Gods and Monsters
by DragonlordRynn
Summary: Two years after the events of Prototype the Chitauri Invasion happens. Why is the shit always going down in New York? Rated M for Alex. And general violence. Disregards Prototype 2.
1. Return to Penn Station

Return to Penn Station

"You gotta to be kidding me!"

"Yup"

"I mean, seriously? _Aliens_?!"

"Well, we did have Zombies and Monsters and in Oklahoma there was this non-dieing mutant with the metal bones."

"But _Aliens_?!"

"Of course. Karma hates us."

"I get it that Karma hates _you_. But _me_? I'm innocent!"

"You're not. You're my sister. So Karma hates you too."

"Bullshit"

Dana huffed out in anger. Just perfect. On the very day when she and her brother returned to New York City from two years travelling the big cities of the U.S., Aliens invaded.

Goddamn Aliens.

Dropping from the sky on hover boards or jumping off giant mutant space eels. A large group of them had stormed the Penn Station where Dana and Alex had just arrived. People were screaming, scrambling for cover as the skeletal, bio-mechanical creatures opened fire. Without wasting another moment, the Prototype lunged towards them, arms already transformed into sword-like claws to rend the invaders to shreds. Here he was, two years after unleashing death upon this very station, now fighting to protect the people.

Irony sucks.

A single swipe took the heads off of three of them and Alex wasted no time to plunge his tendrils into their bodies. He pulled them back almost immediately, as their bodies violently rejected his attempts to absorb their Biomass.

"Friggin' Aliens."

Alex dodged a barrage of energy bolts aimed at his head. He rammed his claws into the ground, impaling another bunch of them with massive spikes erupting from the ground. He was not really starving, but fighting a battle when he was unable to replenish his Biomass was not in his favour. By now, all of the invading Aliens had noticed him and started shooting at his position. It sucked for the Prototype, but at least the bystanders could get away. He heard his sister barking orders at them, so she was doing fine. Good.

The Virus threw a quick glance at the invaders, then pounced right between them. Low Bio levels or not, he was going to Devastator the ever living Hell out of them. Spikes and tentacles broke from his body in every direction, making short process of the Aliens. Within moments, he cleared out all of the creatures in Penn station. With one last glance at the people, he dashed outside to find more of them to shred.

-o-

Dana wasn't really sure how that happened. One moment she and her brother arrived with a train in New York City, the next Aliens dropped from the sky and people started screaming. He ass still hurt from the train ride. Stupid slow trains, but then again, Alex wasn't really able to take a plane. Security would be on his tail faster than you could say 'Guacamole', and the resulting mess was best avoided. But a hurting ass might have been preferable in this kind of situation. No chance avoiding this now.

The viral abomination of an older brother had already jumped into the fray. For some reason, as soon he starts unleashing his powers, he changes his appearance back to how he looked two years ago. On their travel through the U.S. he kept his shape more low-key: A clean shirt, dark pants, no hood and he even generated something that looked like glasses. A simple, Kentian method of disguise.

A series of screeches and gunshots sounded loud through the battle. Dana ducked and swore, grabbed her rolling bag and chucked it against a supporting column. Then she whirled and grabbed an elderly lady to hoist her off the ground where she had fallen.

"Everybody!" she shouted, "Grab somebody who can't walk! We have to get into a safer position!" The people stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. Stupid Americans.

"I'm not joking! Inside is clearly better than outside, but we don't want to stay here either. So drop your damn luggage and get to a safer location!" The young woman shouted, hauling the shocked older lady away from the open and into the marginally safer shopping areas. This time she did get a reaction. About all of the other people followed her example and started tailing her.

"What is going on?" One of them wanted to know. "What are those things?"

"I have no idea", a security officer said, glancing at the ongoing battle inside Penn station. "Aliens, maybe?"

"I guess so too", Dana admitted. "But what is that other guy? You know, the one ripping these things to ribbons?" Of course, to her the answer was clear, but she had to put up a little white lie. Best not to be connected to the viral abomination.

"Let's hope he's one of the good guys", somebody claimed, "Or else we're fucked."

"We should look for others", Dana continued, "That guy seems to keep these things off our backs, so we shouldn't waste any time and look for more survivors. Everybody who is brave enough, follow me. We stay off the main streets and try to get into the buildings through the rear entrances." She opened a back door and peeked outside. After a moment of silence, a small group sneaked outside.

-oOoOo-

In the end, Tony Stark's near-sacrifice put an end to the Chitauri invasion. The casualties were high, yet they would have been higher if not for the Avengers. Every channel in the entire world showed images of New York City, of the people crying and hugging each other, of the people celebrating their new heroes. Some self-proclaimed 'experts' tried to explain how the city was cursed, using the terrorist attack of 2001 and the massive viral outbreak of 2008 as example.

The interviews with several New Yorkers yielded a higher audience rating, though.

"There were all those Aliens! I thought I would die", a woman said, "But then Captain America appeared and rescued us all."

"Hulk smashed this huge snake thing right outta the sky", a businessman explained.

"A ton of cars was falling on us, but spider webs saved my butt", a teen grinned, "Mom said Spiderman rescued me. So, thanks, dude."

"A dude jumped off the roof, beat up a bunch of aliens and disappeared. He was dressed as some kind of devil."

"Ironman saved us all with that rocket. It was awesome!"

"The thunderclap was really massive. I hope Thor grilled these guys good."

"I was making my usual rounds in Penn Station when the attack happened. There was this... mutant I guess. He had really big claws, went on to shred a whole lot of these aliens within a few moments", a security officer explained. "That guy really changed my mind. We treated them mutants real bad, and that one dude just went up to rescue us ungrateful idiots. I think it's time we treated them better."

"I don't know why I'm being called a hero", a young woman with spiky brown hair explained, "All I did was getting a few guys together to go and find a few other survivors. I think that's my duty as person to help safe as many others as I can. I just made others help me."

The Avengers didn't appear on the interviews. Thor returned to Asgard, taking his brother with him. Stark industries helped with the repairs and brought new technologies to the hospitals to help the people. Steve Rogers volunteered, along with a lot of other people, to remove the rubble and assist those who lost their homes. Director Fury yelled at the SHIELD overseers for deploying a nuke to Manhattan. After all, he explained, this was already the second one they deployed within two years, and both only barely missed their marks, which thankfully saved the lives of millions of people.

Life slowly returned to New York City.


	2. Rio

**Author:** **To ease your worries, I am not planning on abandoning the story. As I mentioned in other stories I already wrote, any plot hole will be explained in later chapters. So please don't worry and just enjoy the ride.**

* * *

Rio

Rio de Janeiro, October 6th , 2013. 3 am.  
A lone figure was walking through the outskirts of one of the many favela slums. The person, a man, was strolling along with no hurry at all. With his worn sneakers, the faded jeans, the old leather jacket and the shabby hooded shirt he appeared just like any other resident. However, the real residents would never walk around the favelas at this time, never alone and least of all never without checking for danger. Yet this man did.

He was Alex Mercer, the Prototype, the deadliest predator known to mankind. He had no hurry getting down the streets.

The Viral Abomination stopped for a moment, head tilted skywards. It was quiet. Much too quiet. But he could hear their hearts beat a steady tone. He knew they were here, watching him. However, he wasn't about to rush them. Instead, he sauntered further away from the center of the slums, deeper into the surrounding abandoned industrial areas. He threw a glance over his shoulder once he reached a fenced-off, deserted private airport. Alex grabbed the chain links and easily pried them apart, slowly drawing closer to the hangar. The welded steel door was just as easy torn off their hinges and flung to the opposite side of the airfield. The plane that stood inside the building certainly did not fit into a South American slum. It was made of sharp angles and seemed to come straight from the future. Alex let out a low whistle before raising his voice.

"I know you are here. You've followed me ever since I left the Sugar Loaf cable car, and that's only today. Get out of your hidey-holes before I grab your pretty jet and take it for a joy ride. I bet this baby has the same controls as a Blackhawk."

"Not really"

Alex slowly turned around to the sound of the voice. A middle-aged man wearing a suit stood in the open doorway, arms crossed behind his back. He was backed by several other men and women in suits. The only two who differed from the normal blacksuits were the red-haired woman in a skin-tight leather suit right next to the main man, and the guy with the short hair and the bow, crouched on the beams supporting the roof.

"I'm feeling generous today, so I'll just ask. Who are you guys?" The Prototype asked.

"Well, we could ask you the same thing", the middle-aged man replied. "Does the name Estelle Dallowan ring a bell?"

Alex arched an eyebrow. "Who?"

"You know, older lady in her eighties. She paid for a one-way trip to Rio de Janeiro, claiming to take a cruise ship back home. Now the thing is, Estelle vanished five years ago in New York City with neither of her relatives hearing about her."

"Old people disappear from retirement homes all the time, and move to live with a friend or some other family members."

"Maybe, but Estelle never used her bank account again. She was assumed to have died in that infection. But now she's there, buying a one-way ticket to Rio de Janeiro, looking _exactly_ the way she did five years ago. And not only that, after she arrived here, she vanishes from the airport too. She never checked into a hotel."

"Rio is a dangerous place."

"She's not the only one. There are a lot of people who have vanished in New York City, but who appeared on some plane flight, in some obscure state just to vanish again. Don't you think that's weird?"

The Virus carefully coiled his body, readying his Biomass.

"And not only that", the agent continued, "You know, every time those people disappeared in some state or some city, a major crime organization suddenly collapses and their leaders fall victim to a massive house fire- yet no bodies showed up."

 _Okay. These guys mean business._

"But you know what the weirdest thing is? We managed to get a hold of a few, let's say, not-so-clean witnesses, and all of them claim to have seen a guy wearing a leather jacket and hoodie near the scenes of the fire. Also, the same guy was seen in New York City five years ago."

"Who else knows about this?" Blacklight growled, "How many of you are there?"

"That's classified."

"Fine. If that's how you want to play..." Black tendrils slithered along the Prototype's arm and before the group could react, he lashed out. His left arm had changed into a whip-like tentacle which he quickly used to swipe the agents off their feet and a few yards through the air. The archer under the roof instantly shot an arrow at Alex' face, but the Prototype easily slashed it out of midair using transformed claws. The agents were getting back to their feet, but the Virus first focused on the man on the steel beam. He launched his Whipfist upwards, lodging it firmly into the metal. With a powerful yank, he brought it all down, archer included. The man managed to roll away and out of the danger zone as soon he hit the ground, but that was where the Prototype was waiting. Alex leapt at the man, Whipfist transformed into a second claw. Seconds before shredding him, an energy blast hit him with full force, sending him splattering against the futuristic plane. While the middle-aged agent lowered his giant ass gun with raised brows, the red-haired woman dashed over to her partner, helping him up. "Oh wow", the archer claimed, "Was he supposed to do that?"

"I guess so", the woman explained as they witnessed the red-and-black mass reformed to take the shape of the man. He was pissed, to say the least. With a single slash of his claws he tore off half of the jet, then pounced at the leader with the wing as self-made shield. The woman reacted quickly, shooting the canisters they had stored inside their jet. The tanks exploded, dousing the entire hangar in a fine red mist.

The effects were almost instant. While the agents immediately scattered to avoid the attack (a tactic the Blackwatch Soldiers never seemed to use), the gas took effect. Alex' arm, which he used to hold on to the plane wing, decayed within seconds. Without anything to hold onto, the metal crashed into the floor, seconds before the Prototype collapsed to the ground. The gas corroded his Biomass from the inside and the outside of his body, making it near impossible to regenerate quickly enough. The Agents were still keeping their distance, watching in shocked amazement how his Biomass decayed and flaked off his body. Alex growled at them, but decided they weren't worth the trouble. With his last ounce of strength, he struggled back to his feet and dashed out of the plane hangar. The agents were left behind. The leader lowered the huge gun he was holding. "Is everybody accounted for?"

"We're still alive. It's just the ego that got bruised", the archer answered. "Oh. And the Quinjet's toast."

"Call HQ to pick us up", the leader said. "And tell Stark his stuff works wonders."


	3. Lost Brother

Lost Brother

 _New York City, October 26th 2013. 23 pm._

Dana Mercer yawned and stretched her body. It was Saturday and she could stay up late, but she started to regret her decision. The program on the television was shitty, to say the least, and the internet did not interest her at the moment. The young reporter sighed and got up to switch the TV set off.

 _THUD_

Dana's head whipped up. That heavy sound, it came from the roof. And there was only one thing in the entire world that made such a distinct sound.

Finally. That lazy excuse for an older brother turned up. Ooooh. He was going to get a set of really hot ears when she was done with him. His damn return flight was scheduled for the tenth of October, now it was almost Halloween. Just what in the world made him waste so much time?

She spent a few minutes practicing glares and putting together a perfect line to angrily greet her brother with until she heard the sound of keys in the lock. She made Alex carry a set of keys with him, so he wouldn't walk in through the window.

Every word she was planning on hurling at her older brother's head suddenly died on her tongue as the man walked through the door. Alex looked like death warmed over- and that says a lot for a guy who already looked like that in the first place. His body was tense, his eyes darted around the room and there were constant tendrils running over his frame, as if the viral abomination was ready to shapeshift any given second.

"What happened?" the young woman asked, "Alex?"

"I had a hell of a time", the Prototype replied, carefully pushing his way past his sister and collapsing more or less onto the couch. The furniture groaned under the sudden drop of weight on it, but thankfully it didn't break. And that was what made Dana suspicious. First of- her brother would never throw himself onto her couch without slowing down. He broke the last two predecessors to the one currently sitting in her flat- and second, the furniture didn't break. And that meant that her brother was quite light.

"Okay, what is going on, Alex?" She demanded, arms crossed as she took her position opposite of the Virus' face.

"What do you mean?"

"You suck at lying. Something is bothering you. You are tired- which you almost _never_ are and your tentacles are nearly whipping out of your body. What is wrong?"

"I'm _starving_ ", the Prototype finally admitted. "My entire body wants to get something to chew on, because I have barely eaten since I left Rio."

Dana frowned. She knew her brother's dieting habits. Hell, one time he consumed a guy who broke into her apartment right in front of her eyes. She knew how _fucked up_ that was, but she also knew that Alex never really liked having to consume people. But it wasn't a question of morality. It was necessary for the Blacklight virus to consume Biomass in order to survive. However, he swore to never go after innocent people. He kept to criminals, people nobody would miss. This was also part of what he was doing around the globe. He would usually leave for some time to find some member from any gang, devour them and use their knowledge to get further up. He would hunt his way to the top until he got each and every last of their leaders, resulting in the collapse of the entire gang. And even though Dana never said anything about it, she was actually somewhat proud of her brother, since he was doing an incredible good job curbing in the violence. And he did bring down at least three or so really big cartels and he took a massive bite out of several more.

So she couldn't understand why he was running low on fuel. He went to Rio de Janeiro because the Favelas were crawling with illegal activities. There were so many people there he could eat without feeling guilty and there would still be a lot more around.

"What happened in Rio?"

"The first days were nice", the man groaned, "But then I noticed that people were following me."

"Rio's not really a safe place."

"Not the street scum. Trained people. Dangerous people."

Dana's heart stopped for a moment. "Blackwatch?"

Alex shook his head, much to her surprise. "No, not Blackwatch. Some other group." He twisted his body, producing a badge torn of from a uniform from his pockets. "It says 'Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistic Division'."

"Well, that certainly is a mouthful. Normally you eat people like that for breakfast, pun indented, but you didn't. Why?"

Alex groaned again. "I almost did. I noticed they were following me, so I walked to where their smell was strongest. I found a pretty awesome jet and a group of blacksuits aiming guns at me." His blue eyes turned to his sister. "But then the leader started talking. About the person I disguised myself as. About how they discovered that the same happened everywhere I went, so they started asking questions."

"How much do they know?" The young woman started to get nervous.

"I don't know. But I decided to take out the friggin' _archer_ on the ceiling beams first, but then they shot me with a big fucking gun. It _hurt_ and I splattered against their jet and needed a moment to reform. And then I decided I just had enough with these guys."

"You mauled them."

"Tried to. But they shot a few canisters and the whole hangar was filled with something like Bloodtox, only it was way worse." He grimaced at those memories. "I escaped as it started corroding my body away, thought that was it, but I was mistaken. It kept affecting me for almost two weeks. I kept throwing up my Biomass and every time I tried consuming again. Everything I ate was immediately rejected, along with another chunk of me. You can't imagine the messes I've caused just trying to eat a small animal. And the entire time I was running here, because these guys knew exactly when I was going to board a plane or ship."

"You tried to lose them." Dana noticed.

"I did once I crossed Mexico", Alex explained. "But it wasn't until Dallas that I could feed again without puking everywhere."

"Oh wow. And here I considered yelling at you." Dana thought for a moment. "You know what? You will take a break. Tomorrow you can go and check the city for something to eat and I will check on these guys, deal?"

"Deal"


	4. SHIELD

S.H.I.E.L.D.

Alex rarely needed to rest. Which was no great surprise, he is, after all, a walking Biological Weapon. However, this doesn't say that he never rests. From time to time he allows himself the luxury of switching off and taking a short nap. The few times he did this was mostly to shut himself off from his surroundings, to adapt to some new stimuli (it was quite useful to adapt to the old Bloodtox) or to heal in case he was seriously damaged. In every case he was more like a rock when sleeping. He doesn't breathe, doesn't move and barely reacts to external events. This is also why he only rests when he feels safe.

Dana threw a glance at the still shape of her brother. She wanted to watch TV, but the remote was most likely buried under his body. And low Bio levels or not, he was still as heavy as a fucking horse. It was almost noon and he hasn't stirred once, which did worry her slightly. He never slept for very long. This new version of Bloodtox must have been Hell. Oh well, there was nothing better to do. Time to check the great World Wide Web for information on that organization with such a tongue-twisting name.

It was around three in the afternoon, when Alex finally woke up. He blinked blearily around the room, putting the many memories back together in the right way so he could remember where he was. That was the kind of cute thing about him, Dana decided. As soon he switches back on, he actually needed time to start running properly.

"Hello there", she greeted him, "Back amongst the living?"

Alex scoffed. "I told you, I'm beyond life and death, so 'back amongst the living' is a wasted phrase on me."

"Har-har. You are funny", the young woman replied sarcastically. She turned and grabbed a sheet from the coffee table. "Here, look at this."

Her big brother took the paper and checked it. "Eggs, Milk, Flour, Cheese, Breakfast Cereals... why are you giving me your shopping list?"

"If I have to find out about those blacksuits for you, you have to go shopping for me", Dana explained, reaching for another paper. "But you can also check this out. I hacked into the CSI reports and found something promising. There's a weapon trafficking ring here in Hell's kitchen. You can grab a bite to eat there. Just remember civilians and super heroes are **not** on the menu."

"Dana, I could kiss you."

"Yeah, no. I'm not going to let your mouth get anywhere near me as long you haven't eaten properly."

Alex grinned at her playful banter. Sometimes it was easy to forget he wasn't her real brother. She certainly tried to see him as her sibling, even after he told her about his true nature.

"I'm going to be back by ten", the Virus said as he walked out of the apartment and moved up to the roof. He turned towards the direction of Hell's Kitchen, steadied himself, and took off running. As soon he reached the end of the tar field, he leapt off.

Time to go hunting.

-OoOoO-

As it was nearing Halloween, Hell's Kitchen became much more violent. The Daredevil however knew to use this to his advantage. Nobody checked the roofs anyways and it became dark faster. The vigilante crouched low to check his surroundings. Nothing. And that was weird.

The man frowned beneath his mask and silently somersaulted off the roof he was on to reach the roof of an abandoned factory building. Earlier this week, he discovered some leads to a group of weapon smugglers that had their base here. Knowing this kind of men, it would be easy to sneak in and surprise them, taking them out one by one and leave them for the police.

As he crept closer, his senses picked up something strange. A small lump leaning against the wall of the stairwell. Intrigued, the vigilante drew closer, checking the object.

"A bag?" he asked himself out loud as he felt the sturdy textile. From the sounds and feeling of it, it was also filled with groceries.

"Okay", Daredevil questioned nobody in particular, "Why is there a bag of groceries sitting on the roof of an abandoned factory where a bunch of smugglers hide?" He quickly shook his head. He refused to let such insignificant questions muddle his focus. He had a job to do.  
Carefully, he slid open the door and sneaked inside. He was mindful to the sounds he made as to not to warn the gang.  
However, as soon he walked down a few feet he noticed that something was completely off.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

It wasn't the type of silence that came from people hiding and waiting to jump him. It was the type of silence that only came from an empty building.

But Foggy said that they were going to be here. They couldn't leave that fast, could they?

Daredevil ducked into a room, a break room according to the smell. He examined the area. There were playing cards strewn across the floor, the table and the chairs were overturned and beverages and food spilled everywhere. He also found guns lying around. All of them were fully loaded and the safety was off, but it didn't appear that there was even one shot given off.

Now the whole thing started to make even less sense. Four stooges sat here, playing cards and eating food when suddenly they kick over the furniture, drew their guns and...disappeared? The vigilante's frown deepened as he left the room. That was strange, really strange.

As he weaved his way deeper into the complex he realized that they weren't the only ones. He found weapons strewn about, some flung away and others dropped where their owners had been. Strangely, the cargo he found in the lower levels was intact, nothing stolen and most of the crates weren't even open.

The vigilante stopped and listened. There was nobody here, but according to Foggy there should have been at least twenty men- if not more.

So where were they?

"Stay back!"

Daredevil whipped around. Somebody was still here!

 _*BANG*_

The masked man dashed down the depot, towards the shouting and the noise of shooting.

 _*BANG*_

 _*BANG*_

Daredevil slid around the corner of the office box and managed to reach a thin metal door.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" The voice was muffled by the walls and the door, but the devil could easily pick it up with his enhanced senses.

"Your worst nightmare." A second voice claimed. And boy, this one sounded really unpleasant.

His hand froze over the door handle as he heard the clicking of an empty gun.

"GACK!" The first man gargled, seemingly being manhandled. But what made the vigilante on the other side of the door hold his breath in shock, were the pleadings and shrieks that followed, and then there was the sound of fleshy matter crawling around. The screaming died abruptly.

The vigilante took an involuntary step back, staring at the door. What the hell was going on?!

He took another step back when he heard the second person in the room turn around and walked towards the door. His steps were heavy.

"Hm? Thought I took care of the guys out there."

 _Oh shit_. Whoever was in there was aware of the Daredevil standing outside the room.

The door exploded outside, flew across the room and crashed into the crates. By now the vigilante managed to get some distance between him and whoever was just stomping out of the opening.

"There you are."

Okay, that voice could send and entire platoon cowering, Daredevil noticed. He heard something fleshy slither, but chose to get some distance between them.

Or so he thought. He clearly heard something whistling through the air, so he quickly rolled left to avoid being hit.

Only that whatever was following him also changed its course.

Seconds later it impacted into Daredevil's back, grabbed him roughly and instantly dragged him back. He vaguely realized that it was something with four claws that held onto him, but it was way too strong to break through. He still tried to shift and wiggle out of it, with no avail.

In the very moment he was close enough to the guy who chased him, the talon changed shape with a distinct slithering noise. Instead of four small hooks holding to his back it were now four almost sword-like claws lifting him up on his throat. A faint smell of decay assaulted the vigilante's nose as he struggled to pry the claws apart.

"Huh", his captor suddenly said, letting go of the masked man a bit, "You're that Daredevil guy."

The vigilante instinctively kicked his captor into the chest with all his might to get free.

It was like kicking a wall.

Daredevil swore under his breath while the other man chuckled. "Bet you didn't see that coming." He let him go and took a heavy step away, allowing his former victim some privacy. "I guess you wanted to take out these idiots here too", the other man said while walking away. "You're too late. I dealt with them already."

Daredevil growled. "Where are they?"

"Not around anymore, I'm afraid", was the answer. The vigilante immediately followed after the man, ignoring his aching legs. The guy was heavy, way too heavy to be a normal human, judging by the sound of his steps, Daredevil noticed. And from what his sonar senses showed him, the guy's arm was shaped like a monstrous four-clawed paw.

With another slithering sound the talon melted back into a human arm, surprising the masked vigilante. The other guy merely walked up the stairs, kicked the door off its hinges and stepped outside to gather the bag of groceries.

But aside from the sounds he made when walking, the leather of his jacket rubbing against his body and each thundering footstep, he was eerily silent. There was no breathing, no heartbeat to tell that he's even there.

"What are you?" Daredevil growled, stopping the man in his motion. "You have no pulse, no blood circulation and you certainly don't breathe. So, what are you?"

He felt the man glaring at him, but he didn't flinch a bit. "What is it to you?" He asked, gaze not breaking.

"You are not human", the devil growled, "You don't have any respiration I notice and your steps are too heavy for normal humans. But then again, there is no whirring of engines, so you aren't a machine."

"Hm" Daredevil heard this slithering sound again. A few seconds later the other man spoke up. "And you are blind", he stated bluntly. "Most people would freak out, but you didn't even flinch. You follow me with your head, but never with the eyes. You listen, but don't watch. And that tells me you're blind."

Damn, that guy was good.

He huffed. "Eh, doesn't matter to me." There was the fleshy noise again. "Just thank your lucky stars that I recognized you before I smashed you into a bloody spot on the floor. You're one of the few people around here actually doing some good work. See you around, I gotta go."

Go? Daredevil didn't understand what that guy meant until he felt him shift his stance. Suddenly he leapt off the roof. The power behind his movement cratered the floor beneath him and send Daredevil stumbling. The vigilante heard the wind whistle around the other guy until he got too far away, but he managed to pick up the faint sound of him crushing into another roof further away.

"Just my luck I run into some sort of super mutant", the blind vigilante grumbled. "Now I have to notify the Police to get the weapons out of here."

-OoOoO-

It was exactly ten 'o clock when Alex opened the door to his sister's apartment.

"I'm back", he announced unnecessarily. He walked over to the kitchen counter, setting down the groceries. "Did you know that the Nutjob in Hell's Kitchen is blind?"

Dana looked at him in surprise. "Wait, that Daredevil guy? How do you know?"

"He could tell I am different", Alex explained, "And then I decided to test it out by transforming into the hottest lady I've ever eaten. He didn't even flinch."

"How did you meet Daredevil?"

"He was after the same guys as I was", the Prototype explained, "But I was already finished when he showed up." He noticed Dana's computer was switched off and the telephone cable was more or less ripped out of the wall. "Anything you want to tell me?" he questioned, nodding towards the wall jack.

"Oh right" Dana grimaced awkwardly. "I know a bit about who chased you down in Rio."

"Who was it?"

"They are called S.H.I.E.L.D." the young woman explained, sitting on the kitchen counter. "They seem to be of the government, but balls-deep into secrecy. I tried to dig deeper. I found their main frame and managed to hack into it- thanks to your counseling in hacking, by the way."

"Doesn't explain the ripped-out phone cable."

"Yeah, I kind of poked too deep I guess. Anyways, I quickly noticed how my computer started acting weird. Nothing much, but it made me suspicious."

"They hacked back?"

"It looked like it, or maybe installed a Trojan on my system. Anyways, I decided to abort the mission and removed the telephone cable. Maybe I was a bit too rough."

Alex sighed. "Okay. I'll repair the damage and check your computer for anything out of the ordinary."

"Thank you", his younger sister exclaimed, "But there's a possibility it were just my nerves."

"You can never be too safe", her older brother shrugged. "Just fetch me my tools, alright?"

-OoOoO-

Dana Mercer is a free-lancer for several news papers. She polishes up different articles and whips up her own for the right coin. And her brother is a viral abomination that drops by every now and then. That did make up for some odd working hours.

But having somebody knock on her door on Monday morning at eight was a pushing it.

Grumpily, the young woman marched over to the door to rip it open.

"WHAT?!" she snapped, but every other word suddenly died on her tongue as she noticed the guy with the sunglasses and the suit standing in front of her.

"Are you Dana A. Mercer?" The man asked.

"Uh?" She blinked at him, trying to process what was happening. Alex had gotten up from his seat on the couch and moved closer, hoping to scare the newcomer off.

"I will not talk around", the man said, "We discovered that you hacked into the S.H.I.E.L.D. main server around eight 'o clock yesterday."

Dana took an alarmed step back, staring wide-eyed at the man. With a quick step her brother was next to her, tendrils barely holding back. He refrained himself from mauling the guy however, and that had two reasons. First of, the man was still standing in the open doorway and their neighbors might be watching. And second, he knew that guy from somewhere.

"There's no use denying", the intruder stated, "We managed to track you here."

Now Alex was this short from actually shredding the guy, when the man suddenly broke out into a giant grin while removing the shades. "And I must say I'm impressed. I need somebody with your skills, little lady. Miss Mercer, you are hired!"

Dana blinked.

Alex stared at the man in confusion.

The man grinned at them both.

"...Are you Tony Stark?"


	5. The Avengers

The Avengers

"...Are you Tony Stark?" Dana was the first to speak.

The man in question grinned even wider. "The one and only", he replied. "I'm deeply hurt you didn't recognize me sooner."

"You could have made yourself clearer on that one. I'm more of the 'Act first, ask later' kind of guy", Alex growled, torn between surprise and deep loathing about the prank the billionaire pulled.

Stark eyed the hooded man critically. "And you are? Boyfriend?"

"Brother" both Mercers said in unison. Stark's face lit up. "Good! Now to the reason I'm here: You see it was true that I discovered your little hacking. But as I said, I'm amazed by your abilities." He flashed that shit-eating grin again. "And this is why I want you to be part of my team. You'll do the computer stuff, we do the heavy lifting."

Alex frowned. "Part of the Team... Do you mean the-?!"

Dana's hand whipped up before he could finish. "I'll take the Job!"

"Good", Tony answered. "Then we'll meet in an hour over at the tower. Just make sure you guys look respectable." He beamed at Alex. "And yes I said guys. Plural. You can come too, Mr. Big-scowly-brother. Just remove that hood, alright? We don't want to make others think you're up to something." He turned and walked right out, leaving the siblings to stare at each other.

"Did that just happen?"

"I think it did."

"Awesome. I'm going to get changed!"

"And I'll... uh. Just stay here and wait."

-oOo-

Exactly one hour later Alex and Dana walked through the front door of the Stark Tower. Dana had chosen a long shirt, dark pants and a blue jacket while Alex simply decided to pull his hood off. Nobody really gave them a second glance, except for the somewhat over-paranoid security chief. Who, by the way, just came scurrying over to the two.

"Are you Mr. and Miss Mercer?" He asked. "Mr. Stark wants you to meet him in his office." He led them towards an elevator. "I will bring you there", he told them, shoving them more or less into the lift.

Alex inhaled sharply. These narrow metal boxes were not in his taste. Unpleasant memories washed over him, making his Biomass churn. The last time he was on an elevator was with _her_. And despite his earlier feelings for her, it was pure hate and sadistic pleasure that made him carve up her body and-

 _Yeah. Better not go there._

The virus shook himself out of his memories, forcefully suppressing his claws and tendrils from ripping through everyone around. Dana was watching him from the corner of her eyes while that Security person- Happy- kept looking at the number displayed on the elevator wall.

Soon the doors opened with a 'ping' and Alex was the first one to leave it.

"Don't like elevators?" Happy asked sympathetically.

"Pretty much", the older Mercer sibling ground out.

"Well, there are always the stairs", the security chief said, "If you don't mind walking thirty or so stories on foot."

"That would actually be preferable."

"You've got to be kidding!" A familiar voice wailed. "Nobody wants to walk thirty stories on stairs!"

Alex and Dana turned to see Tony standing there, staring at the younger man with horror. His expression quickly turned thoughtful. "Okay, maybe Steve wants to, but that guy's a maniac."

"Who's a maniac?" A blonde man poked his head through a door.

Alex stiffened. "Dana", he hissed to this sister. "That one over there is Captain America."

Dana smiled knowingly. "Go and talk to him, you big collection of fanboys."

Her brother threw her a nasty glance, but complied anyways as he slowly walked over to the Man out of Time.

"I never thought your brother was a Captain fan", Tony noted as he and Dana watched the older Mercer sibling awkwardly trying to start a conversation with Steve.

"A big part of him is", the younger sibling stated, "But there are parts of him that are fans of Thor, others like Hulk, but I think deep down he's a Winter Soldier fan."

Tony made a disgruntled noise which sounded suspiciously like 'nobody likes that freak'.

"Anyways", Dana spoke up, "About that job offer you made?"

"Ah, right." Stark turned around. "Pepper! I got the young lady I was talking about!"

"The one who hacked SHIELD's mainframe?" A red-haired woman came towards them. She eyed the younger woman, then stretched her hand towards her. "Pepper Pots, I'm Tony's baby sitter and CEO of his company. I must say your hacking skills are impressive if you managed to get into SHIELD."

"Yeah uh", Dana scratched her head awkwardly. "I'm not sure how to talk about downright _illegal_ activities, at least not out in the open."

"Don't worry", Tony grinned at her, "Friday won't tell, my lips are sealed and Pepper's too. And by the way, I hack into their system at least once a week myself."

The younger woman frowned, but then decided to go with it. "Well, I could always hack, and when Alex told me about some guys stalking him in Rio, I was going to dig deeper. I did notice you guys hack back, so I aborted the mission. I'm not crazy like my big brother, but when he needs my help, I'm going to give it to him. I'm pretty sure Alex could be a descent hacker himself, but he has to get his thoughts together. And he is seriously lacking on the anger management side."

"Oh yeah. We got one of those too", Stark said, "Maybe your brother and Brucy could become Yoga buddies."

"I don't think this would help", Dana claimed, eyes wandering to her brother. And suddenly she noticed that something was off. Alex had gone very stiff, eyes narrowed as he kept glaring over his shoulder. Captain America had already realized that the other wasn't paying attention to their conversation anymore.

A door further down the hallway slid open, revealing two more people. A man with short dark hair and a woman with shocking red hair. Both were dressed casually and chatted with each other, but the way Alex glared holes through them... he knew them.

Moments later and the woman noticed his glares. She smacked her partner hard in the arm and both turned their gazes to Mercer.

It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

The woman slowly reached into her jacket, pulling out a gun. She flipped the safety, but kept it pointed to the ground. The man pulled his gun from a holster under his shirt.

Steve took a little step back as he heard the man he talked to started growling. The sound was way too inhuman as it bounced off the walls. Then, tendrils started to ripple along his skin and his clothes.

"Uh-oh", Dana mumbled, "We should stop them, before, you know..." she winced, "Before your friends end up stains on the wall. And the floor. And the ceiling. And everywhere."

"Uh. Is there anything you want to tell us about your big brother?" Tony questioned, tapping a hidden keypad to alarm Friday.

"Just that making him angry is not exactly the most painless way to commit suicide?" the younger woman replied weakly.

"You", Alex's voice was resonating through the hallway, echoing like thunder. "You stalked me in Rio." He took a step towards them, arms suddenly changing into sword-like claws.

"Oh shit!" Dana shrieked as she dashed towards her brother, stepping boldly in his way.

"Alex! Don't!" she ordered, trying to make herself a bit larger by spreading her arms. "Put your claws down!"

"They were two of them in Rio!" Alex snapped, still glaring at the two agents, "They doused me with that Bloodtox!"

"You survived a _fucking nuclear blast_! That bit of Bloodtox won't kill you!"

Alex was still growling, tendrils were whipping across his form and his eyes were glowing unnaturally. "Put your claws away", Dana said again, "They are not your enemies. They are _not_ Blackwatch." She waved her hand towards the two in the background so they put away their guns as to not agitate her brother more.

Alex snarled, but the writhing mass calmed down. With a last pulse, the claws melted back into his normal arms.

"Fine"

Tony was the first one to break the awkward silence. "I'm gonna get you the number of Bruce's yoga instructor."

-o-

They had relocated to the briefing room, as it offered adequate space to give Mercer a wide enough berth as well as enough possibilities to avoid him in case he attacked. Dana and surprisingly Steve were the only ones still close to the shapeshifter. As it was, Tony was still willing to have the younger sibling for his hacking purposes. Steve cleared his throat, putting a hand on Alex's shoulder. "I understand you have a grudge against Nate and Clint-"

"They are responsible for me throwing up chunks of me for two weeks", the older sibling growled, glaring at the agents in question.

"-But you shouldn't forget it was you who attacked them. Somebody as powerful as you can easily beat them. They were protecting themselves."

"And I am fighting for my survival", Mercer snapped.

"We are as well", the Captain explained calmly. From all traits that man had was patience his strongest. And Alex did behave like a child at times. "I know you have a point when you felt your safety violated. You have every right to do so, SHIELD is not quite subtle when it comes to stating the truth, but you also need to understand. SHIELD discovered that somebody used the IDs and faces of deceased people to travel the world and dismantle illegal organizations. They were simply afraid that you'll go and destroy them too. SHIELD had their fair share of moles already. Believe me when I tell you that the last time we were attacked the entire group collapsed. SHIELD is just as intent on surviving as you are."

Alex was still glaring, but even he saw the reasoning. "I get your point", he growled unhappily.

"It is surprising how a biological weapon of mass destruction is capable of having human emotions." Mercer bristled, turning his head towards the door from where the new voice came. A tall, bald African-American man just strode through the entrance, his single eye locked on the file he was holding in one hand. The middle-aged man from Rio and a dark-haired good-looking woman were following him, but stopped in the doorway.

"What a story", the one-eyed man continued as he marched closer. "A doctor develops a virus for the cash. Then, having second thoughts, he tries to flee and is cornered in Penn Station, where he is shot dead. Before however he unleashed the virus, killing everybody in the station. And that is were it gets scary." He flipped a page of the file. "The virus took over the doctor's body, reviving him as he is about to be autopsied. Then the virus flees and unleashes Hell upon New York, in the end seemingly perishing when it hijacked a nuclear bomb." He finally made eye contact with Alex. "The last part is the official report. What the public got to hear is that it was an act of Terrorism. Now, both versions are complete and utter bullshit. In truth, the sentient virus, believing itself to be the doctor, single-handedly stopped the infection from getting out of Manhattan, it discovered the truth about what the Government was trying to hide and hijacked the Nuclear Warhead that the Government itself authorized to be used on New York City, saving the city in the process." He threw the file on the table and crossed both arms behind his back. "I don't care what others call it, but I think this virus did a pretty good job when those in charge fucked up big time." He fixed the hooded man a glare. "Now there's one thing I don't know: How am I supposed to call that sentient virus? DX-1118C? Blacklight? Zeus? The Terrorist? Doctor Alexander J. Mercer?"

"How do you know?" Alex growled with a mixture of surprise and anger.

"Son, I know everything", the other man stated. "I am the director of SHIELD and I have eyes and ears everywhere. I know you are not a victim yourself, having massacred hundreds of innocents, Blackwatch Soldiers, Marines and Infected alike, but then again I don't give a flying fuck. We all have our bad sides."

"Steve doesn't", Tony threw in, but the Director ignored him. "Now", he watched the virus closely. "Being a sentient virus that has the combined intelligence of the world's head scientists, the possibility to become anyone it wishes, as well as the uncanny ability to shred an army within moments; you would be perfect for SHIELD."

"What? So I can become your weapon instead of Blackwatch as it was planned before I destroyed them all?" Alex snapped back.

"No. You would be working for SHIELD, not as weapon but as member of the Avengers." He jabbed his thumb towards the four present heroes. "Believe me, you wouldn't be any special. We have a non-stop talking genius, two soldiers from the Second World War, a _God_ , two mutants, two guys in suits, the _Hulk_ , a pair of spies, a blind lawyer, a kid with wall-crawling powers and a living computer. You, Mr. Mercer would just be the icing on the cake."

Alex pondered this for a moment before turning his icy glare at the director. "Good, but on three conditions: First. I will partake in _one_ mission, then I will decide whether I keep playing this game. Second. You get rid of that fucking Bloodtox as long I am anywhere near it, also don't shoot me with that gun you used in Rio on me. It fucking _hurt_. And third. I get to drive those sweet jets."

"It appears we have reached a conclusion." The director agreed. "As long you don't do anything to hurt or kill anybody you are not supposed to kill."

"Deal"


	6. Mission

Mission

 _October 31, 2013. 2 a.m. Somewhere over the Mojave Desert._

A Quinjet was shooting across the darkened sky.

"We've reached the drop zone", Zeus commented from the front, as he got up and pointed at a random agent who was in the jet with them. The agent easily slid into the pilot's chair and resumed the flight job.

"You're going to come with us?" Hawkeye questioned, "No offense, but I thought we agreed on you only flying the jets?"

"That was one part of the deal, I also said I wanted to have at least one real mission before I decide whether I'll become a part of the Avengers or not."

"Do you even have experience with recon missions?" the archer wondered. Black Widow rolled her eyes and decided to answer instead of the viral abomination. "I hope you read the reports, Clint. Because they clearly said that Mercer's damn good at infiltration, being shapeshifter and everything."

"And a heavy hitter too", Captain America spoke up from his seat, "Which brings me to the question I was dreading- why am I here again?"

"Because I suck at being a team player", Zeus replied, "And you are a really good team leader. Also I got no trouble removing all rabble if you tell me to."

"You're just doing that to break things", Black Widow huffed, "And by 'things' I mean knick-knack, furniture, people, walls, tanks, entire compounds."

"Get ready for the drop", Coulson told them, holding to the handles. "And don't forget, we're going to drop you off a few clicks west of the hot zone. You have to get into the HYDRA base yourself."

Natasha, Clint and Steve checked their parachutes again, and stepped towards the exit hatch. Alex didn't have a parachute, his lay discarded on the bench.

"You're not using a parachute?" Steve asked.

"I'm too heavy for that shit", Mercer replied, "I'm weighing probably the same as about ten or twenty men, so no 'chute for me."

"Then how are you supposed to get down there? We're almost ten thousand feet high!" Hawkeye yelled at him over the shrieking wind as the hatch was opened.

"Watch and learn, Bird Boy", Zeus grinned as he simply leapt out of the jet. After a bit of free falling, he stretched his arms and legs a bit away from the body, trailing red mist behind him as he descended at a much slower rate.

"Sure. He can fly", Steve deadpanned. "Of course he can fly."

"Actually, it looks more like gliding", Natasha observed. "Now come on." She leapt out too.

Steve and Clint only shrugged and followed close by.

-oOo-

The landing was as soft as it was expected from the Black Widow. Clint and Steve touched down equally gentle, but they lost sight of Alex not too long ago. They didn't need to look very hard for him as he was just sitting at the edge of a large crater and waited for them. "Got here first", he exclaimed.

"That crater is fresh", Hawkeye noted. "Did you-?"

"I told you I'm heavy", the virus shrugged, "Now, do we want to take out some HYDRA idiots or not?"

Steve nodded. "We're about three clicks to west of the base. Our main priority is to get in without being seen and get to their computer systems. Then Nate uses Stark's gizmo thingy and her toughbook to get all data from them, deleting it on the main frame in the process."

"And if we get into trouble?" Clint asked.

"We still try to get the data", the Captain explained, "We can not allow HYDRA to keep whatever they have. And if they have any sort of weapon, we have to either grab them or destroy them." He thought for a moment. "Grabbing any HYDRA member is a waste of our time. They normally commit suicide or clam up."

"Our COM is Stark technology", Natasha added, "So it is hard to hack into. Still, it would be best if we avoided over-using it. Everybody knows what we are going to do, so only contact the others if something comes up."

"So in short", Alex summarized, "Go in, grab the data and get out, preferably with crippling their tech and employees. Got it."

"Good, then let's go."

-o-

They found the camp with no problem. It was a small complex with a three flat bunkers forming a courtyard. The whole area was fenced off with barbed wire and there were watch towers on every corner.

"According to our Intel they have a sort of field scrambler, turning them invisible to most satellites and radar technology", Natasha grumbled. "So if we could also shut that off, it would render this base useless."

"It's not just that", Steve mumbled. "See those guards? All of those outside have a sort of computer with them. Wonder why that is."

"Guess we should stick back then", Clint decided. They watched the few guards wander around the compound for a few moments, trying to memorize their motion pattern. As it was, there were about six guards on watch duty, four more on each tower that were equipped with huge searchlights.

"This is going to be complicated", Natasha noted. "With the spotlights they'll notice us when we approach. When we try to knock out the guards, they will notice that they are missing and send out a search party."

"Hey, it's Halloween, right?" Zeus suddenly asked.

"Yeah, but why do you want to know that?" Hawkeye hissed.

"I'm just gonna grab a disguise then", the virus grinned.

"A disguise? Mercer, for God's sake, switching uniforms will take too long. Besides, what if they have a pass code or something?"

"Don't worry about that. They'll never know the difference." He slipped out from behind the rock before any of them could stop him and sneaked behind another rock closer to the camp, crouching low as the light beam came his way. Then he simply waited, watching the men circle the base and watching the large lights sweep past.

"He's looking for a pattern", Steve noted. "A moment he can strike without anybody realizing."

"But how? He can't just barge in there", Natasha hissed.

"Let him do his thing", the Super Soldier decided. "He seems pretty sure that he can do that with no problem."

About half an hour later another guard came around the corner. The one that had already passed this side was just moving out of view, leaving this man on his own. He was marching quickly along the outer perimeters of the compound, faceless gas mask sweeping left and right, watching for anything out of the ordinary. A pair of spotlights swiped over his shape for a moment, leaving him in the dark a second later. And that was when Zeus suddenly struck. With an inhuman speed, he vaulted over the rock and dashed towards the man. The guard heard him approach and whipped around to meet his would-be-attacker. However, before he even managed to squeeze the trigger of his rifle, Zeus had reached him. With one hand he ripped the gun out of the man's grasp while simultaneously seizing him on his throat to prevent him from uttering a single peep.

Lifting him up on his throat, Alex merely squeezed a bit harder. Steve winced in pain as he heard the muffled _crack_ of the man's spine snapping. Tendrils suddenly whipped out of the virus' body, ensnaring the fresh corpse and his own shape. The three Avengers held their breaths as the spotlight swiped back towards the two bodies, but when it passed them, they realized that there was only one form remaining. The soldier stood there, hand still wrapped around the rifle. His faceless mask turned to their position. Clint could practically _feel_ the smug smirk the guy had on his face. Then he simply gave them a thumb-up sign and hastily hurried off.

"What in the ever-loving shit just happened?!" Hawkeye asked disbelievingly.

-o-

One hour later and the Team's COM links came to life.

" _Get to the north side of the compound"_ , Zeus' voice crackled from the speakers, _"There's the entrance to the underground parking lot. Beware the spotlights."_

"Wait, how did you get there?" Steve asked, even as they started moving.

" _Disguised myself, duh. Thought you've seen it."_

"Still can't believe it", Natasha hissed, "What did you do to that man?"

There was a slight pause. _"Consumed him, of course."_

"WHAT?!"

The eye-roll was actually perceptible. _"Didn't you read the files SHIELD has on me? I'm a biological weapon with a knack for killing things and eating people."_

"You just _ate_ a man?" Hawkeye gasped. "That's seriously fucked up!"

" _He raped his neighbor, he beat his wife to death. He shot his own kids"_ , the Prototype simply ticked off, _"And that was before he became a part of HYDRA. This is the type of person you're happy about that somebody ended them for good."_ He paused. _"The others are similar."_

"Others?"

" _The guard I picked first wasn't allowed so deep in the base. I had to shift a few times to make sure I got in deep enough. This is also why you are supposed to speed things up a bit. Somebody's going to notice that they are missing."_

The line went dead as soon they reached the north side. A moment later and the ground rose, revealing an underground ramp.

"That is convenient", Hawkeye mumbled. The Team quickly ducked inside and the opening closed once more, before the searchlights moved over that area again.

The light inside was dim, and the few bulbs far apart. They passed several parked vehicles until they reached the garage entrance.

"Where's Zeus?" Black Widow hissed.

"Over here", the virus's deep tone came from a support pillar. The Team turned and had to double take the situation. Leaned against the column was a petite blonde woman, shorter than Natasha. Her hands were deep in her pockets as she watched them with a bored expression. "Took you long enough", she told them with Zeus's deep voice. "For your information, these HYDRA goons are all perverts."

"The files were not really detailed as to how far your shapeshifting goes", Steve deadpanned.

"I'm a natural", was the reply as Mercer stepped forwards, a blurry of red and black tendrils washing over him to change his form back into his own. "I found the computer room, but I need your help to get the data. While I could hack into the system with no problem, I have no desire to do so. That's what you are here for."

"Then let's get moving", Natasha sighed. "Let's end this quick."

They started walking. Alex took the lead, eyes eerily glowing in the dark. Infrared vision, he said. The hallways were surprisingly empty, except for some weapons strewn about.

"How many people have you killed?" Steve suddenly asked.

"Twenty-one", was the reply. "And society is way better off without them, believe me."

"Is that the reason you joined us without further questions?" The Black Widow asked, "To eat people to your hearts' desire?"

"Amongst others", was the answer. "Being a part of the team means I can easily find low-lives to consume, since SHIELD and Tony both have an incredible access to all of the crime data banks in the entire world. I'm not stupid. I know a chance when I see it. And when it means that I have to play along with you guys, I can deal with it."

"So you're doing this just for your _stomach_?!"

"Everybody has their own motivations that made them join the Avengers", Alex explained as the group stopped in front of a giant locked door, where he put in the code to open it. "And I'm not going to pretend I'm something I clearly am not. I'm doing this whole Avengers business mostly for _myself_. I do it to feed, to evolve and get more abilities. But" The door swooshed open and they moved in. "I also do this for my sister. I have no problems surviving on my own, but if I missed some of the guys I hunted until now, then Dana will be in danger. And having her on the team means that it is easier to protect her. I don't trust you guys yet, but at this point, everything is better than leaving her to fend for herself."

Natasha set up the computer link with the transfer unit Stark has given her when Alex added one last thing. "Besides, it is easier working _with_ the Avengers than _against_ them. Even Gods and Monsters need allies."

"I just hope you remember your own words", Steve mumbled when he and Clint went into a better position to defend themselves.

Natasha worked fast to plug the transfer unit to the main frame, starting the download.

That was when suddenly the alarm sirens started wailing throughout the whole complex.

"A trap!" Hawkeye hissed. "The system was booby trapped!"

"Then the goons had no idea about that", Zeus growled, tendrils whipping across his shape. "Here they come", he added a moment later when they heard shouting and boots stomping.

"Nate! You finish the download!" Steve ordered, "Hawkeye, Zeus, we hold them off. Nobody gets any closer to the main frame."

"On it", Clint nodded. He fired an arrow, hitting the first goon right in the chest with a powerful discharge. The man tumbled down, twitching uncontrollably. More men darted inside, guns blazing. Steve had his shield up to deflect the bullets while standing in front of Natasha, while Alex had shifted both his arms into massive organic shields to protect himself and Clint.

"Okay, on three I'm gonna charge those motherfuckers", the Prototype growled, shifting his stance a bit. He removed one shield, replacing it with the Whipfist and then he simply charged at the men. Within four steps he reached them and smashed them into the opposite wall, easily turning them into red paste. He deftly ignored any projectile the other guards shot at him as he lashed out with his Whipfist. Steve couldn't see the effect it had, but given that there was a lot of screaming and the shooting stopped, it certainly wasn't very nice.

"Finish this here", Zeus shouted, "And then give me a call. I'm gonna blow this shit up." He ran off.

-OoOoO-

"And that's it, Sir", The Black Widow finished her report. "We managed to escape, but the entire HYDRA base fell victim to Zeus's quite... _enthusiastic_ embracement of his true nature as biological weapon."

"Which is the nice transcription of 'Mercer slaughtered every single HYDRA soldier, then set fire to the generator room, which in return blew up the whole compound'." Clint added. "Also, he still does not understand the concept of 'Team Work'. The entire mission was mainly us sitting on our asses and him doing whatever the hell he wanted to do."

Fury scowled a bit. "At least you got all the data. Stark's going to decode it tomorrow. He claimed he wouldn't do so today. He said, and I quote here 'It's Halloween and I was gonna throw a party'."

"Sir, might I speak freely?" Natasha requested. "Mercer's a lose cannon. We can't trust him to not assault any of the team."

"The main problem is that he is easily the most powerful of us", Clint voiced his thoughts, "It is easier to keep him on the team than having to work against him."

"Barton's right", Fury explained, "However, I will respect your opinion as well, Romanoff. Until we know how to control him we can not allow him to go unmonitored."

"Is that everything, Sir?"

"For the time being." Fury closed his files. "You are dismissed."


	7. Wrap-Up

Wrap-up

 _November 1, 2013, 9 a.m., Stark Tower_

Clint was suffering from a massive hangover. Maybe he shouldn't have agreed to that drinking contest with Tony. Who knew whether that guy had replaced his liver with some mechanic thing?

With a grimace the archer slipped out of the bed and shuffled to the bathroom.

The party certainly was interesting, he remembered.

 _When he and Natasha returned from the briefing with Director Fury, most of the guests had already arrived. Pepper and Dana were hanging around near the bar, sipping cocktails and chatting away with the Maximoff Twins. Rhodey, Steve and Sam were playing darts (Clint later joined them) and Bucky was content with watching. Bruce was doing the barkeeping, Tony was tinkering with the sound system. Vision was helping the genius. Thor was standing in a corner, talking to Alex about battle strategies._

 _Things got a bit stressed after Peter Parker and Matt Murdock arrived. Both were honorary members of the Avengers, by the way. They mostly kept to themselves and did their own stuff, but when it came down to the really hard stuff, the Avengers could count on their help. The blind lawyer and vigilante was the first to recognize the Prototype, claiming he still had bruises around his neck where the virus had roughly manhandled him. Mercer replied that he was lucky he was still alive. That was around the time Parker recognized him from five years earlier, when he was running through all of Manhattan, throwing tanks at helicopters and ripping through the infected hordes._

 _Dana quickly managed to soothe the situation. Clint wasn't sure what happened after midnight; other than Murdock, Rhodes, Parker and Wilson leaving to head home. The other Avengers had their own quarters inside the tower, so they continued their feast._

Clint groaned again, popping an aspirin in his mouth. Despite the pain, he was actually proud to have beaten Tony. Steve and Thor were a completely different league of course.

So when the aspirin was starting to work, the archer showered and got dressed to get a bite to eat from the kitchen. He found Bruce and Dana making pancakes and there was a load of them already stacked on the kitchen table with Bucky and Steve wolfing down massive amounts of the delicious food. Nate was leaning against the Winter Soldier and nursed a mug of coffee. The twins were eating a few sandwiches, talking to each other in their native tongue with Natasha throwing in a few remarks now and then. Tony slinked in, looking a bit worse than Clint did when he woke up.

After they finished their breakfast, Thor poked his head through the door.

"Have you seen the Blacklight Warrior?" The God asked bewildered. "I wished to test my strength against his, yet I can not find him anywhere."

Dana shrugged. "My best guess is that he walked away after last night and is out running across New York's rooftops or hunting down some poor suckers."

"If I might", Friday's disembodied voice spoke up, "Doctor Mercer is in the lab."

"Doctor Mercer?!" Tony asked disbelievingly, "What is that killer virus doing in my lab?"

"He asked me for the data we received yesterday", Friday claimed. The AI paused for a moment. "He wishes to see you."

"Then why are we still here?" Dana questioned, grabbing a plate with some sandwiches, "We shouldn't let him wait."

-o-

When they reached the floor with the laboratories on them, Tony stopped suddenly in front of the huge double glass door.

"Hey! What's the deal?" Clint shouted, "Why are you stopping?"

"Guys?" The billionaire asked, "Who's that dude in there?"

Dana pushed her way past him, swinging the door open. "What is your problem?" she asked, "That's just my brother."

"THAT GUY?!"

The younger Mercer sibling rolled her eyes, walking into the center of the room where Alex was hacking away at the holographic keyboard.

"What's that all about, don't you recognize me?" He asked without looking at either of them.

"Not really", Tony admitted. Everybody else just rolled their eyes. However, the billionaire's reaction was quite understandable. The man-eating killer virus was wearing a different outfit. He was clad in a pair of dark slacks, dark dress shoes, a relatively clean shirt (tucked into his pants this time), a lab coat and a pair of glasses. His wavy dark hair was free. However, without his bulky leather jacket and dark grey hood, they noticed that he was actually shorter than Tony, standing only three inches taller than Natasha. Doctor Mercer never had been a very imposing figure, consisting mainly of wiry limbs and a thin torso.

"I thought we were supposed to check the data out today", Bruce spoke up.

"I had nothing better to do", Alex explained, "Besides, it was quite a lot to work through with all the encryptions and stuff. It took me hours to get through."

"Hours? Since when are you on this?"

"Since I left the party", the Prototype explained, "Originally I decided to take a nap in my room, but somebody-" He threw Natasha and Bucky a pointed glare, "-decided to make out in my quarters. And I had no desire to kick them out."

To give them credit, the Widow and the Soldier only looked a little bit ashamed.

"And I wasn't hungry, since I gathered enough mass in that HYDRA base", Alex continued, opening different files on the screens, "So I came here to start working."

"What did you discover, Doctor Mercer?" Steve asked.

The virus merely arched an eyebrow at the title the soldier gave him, but decided to roll with it. "Let's begin with the technical side of the camp we raided yesterday. You asked why the guards were carrying around a computer, and the answer is: The shield that renders the base invisible to satellite and radar also acts as a Force Field. Anybody who isn't carrying a transmitter with them will smack against the field. This field however has its weak points as we discovered: Going past it by getting in through the underground is the easiest way to avoid it, or we simply get our hands on the transmitters." He leaned back against a support pillar, accepting the Sandwiches from his sister. "Getting in is no problem. It also appears we can do that by simply discharging the field."

"Good to know", Tony noted, "This means either I hack into their field and shut it down, or Thor fries it with enough power to short it out."

"And the data we retrieved?" Clint questioned.

"As I said, they were heavily encrypted, but I absorbed the knowledge on how to crack them through some of the scientists I consumed. Most of it is a collection of the locations HYDRA bases, some names about the bosses and so on. What piqued my interest however, is the few things about some sort of serum." He pulled up an image. Bruce and Tony both stared at it in surprise. "Well, look at that", the billionaire claimed, "This piece looks like a part of the formula Erskine designed to make Steve to Captain America." Bruce frowned at the image on the screen. "This is largely the same part of what we already discovered", he explained, "But it appears we have a lead: HYDRA is trying to reproduce the Super Soldier Serum."

"Seemingly", Alex agreed, "I thought just as much, as the files keep mentioning the 'Peak of Human Evolution'. However, there is one thing I couldn't decipher. There is something they call 'Blood of the God' mentioned in those files, however I could not discover what they mean with it."

"Don't worry", Tony grinned at him, "You did good work until now. We will find out what this is all about. Now go and take your nap, Brucy and I will continue this stuff here."

"That's fine by me, I don't really like standing around all day." He stretched and shifted his appearance back to his normal self. "I could use some action."

"I have waited for you to speak of this", Thor spoke up, "As I too wish to test my strength against yours."

Alex grinned demonically. "Of course, Thor. Let's see who will win."

"Very well. However out of respect for the city around here, we shall search out wasteland to spar."

"Let's do this."

Tony whipped around, switching off the computer. "God vs. Scientific Abomination? I'm gonna watch that!"

"You ARE NOT going to watch that." Everybody whirled around to stare at the one-eyed director glaring at them. "Zeus and Thor are not going to battle each other, even if only for a sparring match."

Alex bristled, Thor growled, but everybody else knew better than to piss off the Director of SHIELD.

"Spoilsport."


	8. Gods and Monsters

Gods and Monsters

10 _th_ _November, 2013, near 10 p.m._

The air was crisp with a hint of winter. A thunderstorm had just passed and the floor was slick with moisture.

And five huge guys hopped on god-knows what where crowding around the horned vigilante of Hell's Kitchen, trying to bring him down.

' _Not one of my better days'_ , the man behind the mask thought sourly. _'Either I end up in that stupid dumpster again, or I end up dead. Either way, Foggy's going to yell at me. Gotta get some distance between me and them.'_

He noticed a heavy sound somewhere above them, while twisting his body so he managed to somersault away from his attackers and up on a fire escape. He knew these goons had guns on them, but he kind of hoped they wouldn't shoot him.

"Get down there ya freak!" one of the men yelled, whipping out his pistol. "Bullets are too expensive for ya!"

 _Thud_

There was that sound again, closer this time but still too faint for normal people to hear it.

"Besides", another called out, "The boss wants ya alive."

 _THUD_

Now it was much louder, loud enough for the crooks to look around nervously.

Matt felt his hair stand on end as there was a second, much fainter noise mixing in with the heavy steps on the roof atop them. It was something that sounded like slithering, but the newcomer was clearly missing pulse and respiration. There was only one creature in all of New York that that had those qualities to it. He only knew it because he met it twice: Once in that warehouse where it almost strangled him, and once on Stark's Halloween Party, where it claimed to have decided to be a member of the team.

The five guys shuffled on the floor and drew their weapons. The sonar senses told the Devil that they weren't taking aim at him, but rather at the roof edge. The crunching above him ended with a heavy thump of a foot meeting the concrete.

"Hey, what'cha doing down there?" The thing above them asked. Daredevil stiffened notably. He wasn't mistaken, this was Zeus, the new member of the Avengers, but its voice wasn't the one he heard before. It was a deep, sensual and, most of all, _female_ tone.

The goons seemed to relax slightly. "Hey babe!" Goon #1 called up, "Why don't you wait for us till we beat up that freak here? We could have a bit of fun then!"

Babe? But Clint told him Zeus looks like a man in a hoodie. So it was able to change shape. Interesting.

"The Daredevil? From where I'm standing beating up a scrawny little bitch isn't fun at all", Zeus claimed. Murdock bristled at that, but kept focused on the goons. However, he noticed Zeus' leer even though he was blind. "I was thinking about something more fun", the sentient virus explained. "How about dinner. Just the five of you and me."

"Dinner?" Daredevil could literally _hear_ the confusion coming from the men's voices.

"Dinner", Zeus claimed, the tone of its voice sending chills down the vigilante's back. "And guess what?" The virus leapt off; crushing the edge it was perched on to dust.

Matt could hear the goons' startled gasps and he heard the wind rush past the Bioweapon's body as it soared through the air. The impact on the floor was powerful. The fire escape shook violently, every single trashcan and car around them was flung a few inches upwards and the five men stumbled to their knees.

Daredevil could sense the terror radiating off the men as Zeus stood straight with tendrils starting to slither across its shape with an unnerving skittering noise. It stepped forwards, the slithering ended with a distinct _Tsnk_ of its claws forming. The men stepped back, breathing strangled. Daredevil could smell their fear as the creature stepped closer, voice back to its original tone. "I decided _you_ are going to be the specialty for today."

"Shoot the freak!" the Leader yelled. Matt grimaced in pain, even though he was being ignored for the time being. However, the loud explosions of the guns going off, combined with the sound of the bullets hitting flesh were familiar and painful to him.

It didn't seem to bother Zeus, as the vigilante quickly realized. The virus didn't budge, didn't move from the alley entrance, thus locking the guys in.

As soon the ammunition was used up, it spoke up. "Finished then? Good. I was starting to get really hungry."

Matt didn't quite notice when the thing was moving. Only that it was extremely fast and precise.

He heard the leader goon give a strangled grunt as the virus grabbed him roughly on the throat. In one motion, it slammed the man hard into the floor, shattering each and every bone in his upper body. Daredevil couldn't do much more than listen to the body break. The men's pulses were picking up in speed, panic now setting in completely. The leader's pulse was speeding even more, getting close to a cardiac arrest. But then Zeus' body created that slithering noise again and with his sonar senses Matt noticed the four massive tentacles sprouting from its back, digging mercilessly into the victim. The vigilante didn't notice the other men's terrified gasps and whimpers, he was way too occupied with the sound of the victim's body being broken down to its basic components. Everything was twisting, tendrils grated against each other, absorbing the entirety of the man's body without leaving anything behind. The whole process didn't take longer than a few seconds, but it made the Daredevil weak to his stomach as he listened to the virus' body twist and churn on the inside as it processed and stored away the organic matter.

Then it turned towards the remaining four, body writhing in anticipation. Daredevil could smell the terror, the sweat and the urine that drenched the goons' bodies.  
And when Zeus approached them, the vigilante made a decision.

With a powerful leap he jumped between the weapon and its terrified victims, cutting it off.

"That's enough, Zeus", Daredevil growled. "You will not harm these men any further!"

The virus stopped, claws hanging relaxed at its sides. "Oh?"

"I will not tolerate you killing people on my watch. I know what happened in 2008. I know how many you murdered back then. You spent the last five years killing more people either directly or indirectly. I will not allow you to continue this under my watch", the Devil growled, body poised ready for a confrontation. The weapon has gone very still, but Matt could feel its gaze moving up and down his form.

"Are you hiding a tank of Bloodtox under your too tight suit?" Zeus suddenly asked. "Do you have a Hellfire Missile ready or a Thermobaric tank on the street?" It took a step towards the vigilante when he didn't answer. "Thought so."

Then it lunged at him.

It was fast, Matt noticed, but not quite as fast as him. He easily avoided the left swipe it threw at him by leaping over its head. Zeus crushed into the wall, shattering bricks like they were made of Styrofoam. That didn't stop it though as it removed itself with a snarl from the rubble like it was nothing. Daredevil kept it in his field of vision. Its body was writhing audibly as it swung its claws at him. Matt avoided again, realizing quickly that the weapon suddenly swiped its other claw at him, forcing him to roll immediately. Not good, Zeus was adapting to his style of fighting. The Daredevil mainly relied on quick jabs and dodges to bring down an opponent, but for the first time he realized that it would be futile against a force such as the living weapon.

But he had to stop it until those four men managed to escape the alley. Zeus let out a growl, pouncing at him again. Daredevil somersaulted upwards, clinging to the fire escape he had been on before. The weapon didn't care. One of its claws transformed with that grating sound again before it launched it to the top of the construct. It pulled only slightly, tearing down the entire staircase. Matt groaned in pain, even as he tried to leap out of the collapsing construction. The noise, the clanging and crushing was too much for his increased senses. He collapsed atop the shattered remains of the fire escape, moaning and clutching his head. He could hear the other four men scream in panic. He had noticed they tried to escape when Zeus was busy with chasing him down, but with him incapacitated, the weapon had focused on them once more. Daredevil struggled to get back to his feet, but he knew he was too late. Zeus had trapped the men with its tendrils and began pulling them into its form. They were struggling and screaming as they were broken into their basic compounds and absorbed. Zeus itself wasn't caring at all. The intensity of its gaze was still on the Devil.

In this instant Matt realized what it felt like to be prey. He finally fought back to his feet and immediately tried to retreat, but his legs were still wobbly. He stumbled forwards, but suddenly Zeus' giant claw wrapped around his throat again and lifted him up effortlessly. Tendrils broke through the weapon's body and wrapped tightly around the vigilante with enough force to bruise. Daredevil's breathing hitched at the feeling of being completely at the mercy of a thing that has been created to kill. He could _feel_ the creatures' insides churn and create more of the virus, ready to infect and consume.

Matt Murdock was going to die here tonight.

Zeus yanked him closer, close enough for him to feel its hot breath on his skin.

"And that's it", it snarled. "You're dead. Nothing more than Biomass. Nothing more than a set of memories inside my head. Nothing more than your abilities that I would get. Compared to me, y _ou_ are _nothing_."

Matt could smell the odor of decay coming from this thing. He remembered this thing was technically a dead body. But why wasn't he dead yet?

"But I won't", Zeus growled, despite its grip not easing up. "I won't kill you." It exhaled again, its sound turning into a long-stretched snarl. Murdock could literally _feel_ the effort it took for the weapon to bring its many writhing tendrils under control. He could sense the cells inside this being beginning to reabsorb the virus it wanted to infect him with.

"I won't kill you", Zeus growled again. "Even though it is way too easy. You have realized that there was nothing you could do against me. Nothing would have saved you." It snorted. "It is the same with the other Avengers. It would be too easy to attack them, to consume them and _become_ them. _Blacklight_ would have no problems doing that, slaying 'Earth's mightiest Heroes' and get their powers. Not even Thor and the Hulk would survive fighting me. I'd just kill them, consume them and get their powers. That's what it was made for, consuming and adapting to kill."

It dropped the vigilante to the floor, but still pinned him with a heavy boot on the chest. "Do you know how it is? Blacklight- _I_ have been made to kill and consume anything near me. But I don't. I don't allow myself to fall to that level. Every moment I am near people, I have to smother my own inner instincts to do what I was _made_ to do. You can't understand this. The entire time I am at war with myself. Just a single slip and I end up becoming the most dangerous threat to the world." It slammed its fist into the nearby wall, grinding brick to powder. "There is nothing that would be able to stop me once I started spreading like Redlight did five years ago. I've adapted to the old Bloodtox and I am starting to overcome my aversion towards water. Everything is just a question of adaptation. But I refuse to do exactly that. I refuse _myself_. My true nature!" Zeus let out a string of curses as it finally stepped back and allowed the Devil to slowly prop himself up. "You know why?" It asked him. "Because I made a _choice_. Because I am _not_ like Elizabeth Greene. I am _not_ what Gentek created. I am what _I_ want to be, even if that means having constantly to argue with myself."

The weapon snorted with what could have been amusement. "I'm not proud about what I did. There have been moments in my past where I have been short before saying 'screw it' and went on with rampaging across the planet. Do you know what would have been? Everything would be Blacklight. People, animals, plants. Everything would be me. There would have been no wars, no struggle. Only Blacklight. But I never took that step."

It growled again, pacing up and down the alley. "Dana was there. Dana is the only anchor I have left to humanity. I don't want to hurt her. I don't want to scare her. This is why I fight my own nature. But I can't change what I am. Blacklight is a virus, a weapon. Dana was the one who gave it a clear goal."

"The criminals", Matt breathed. "You are consuming the criminals...because your sister told you to?"

"I have to sustain myself with Biomass", Zeus answered. "And I wanted to make sure Dana can live in peace. I decided to kill two problems."

Despite everything, Daredevil suddenly forced a small chuckle. "You try to redeem yourself", he noticed, keeping Zeus in his line of vision.

"Oh fuck no", Zeus ground out. "I don't want redemption. I just want to make sure the scum of this world stays away from my sister. And when I can grab a bite to eat from it, then I don't mind."

The wailing of police sirens became audible in the background. People had called the cops because of all the shooting and screaming. Zeus pushed off the wall with the intention of leaving when suddenly its mobile phone started ringing. The virus retrieved it, accepting the call. The Daredevil could easily hear the call and he decided to listen in. That thing did nearly give him a heart attack, so there was no point in trying to be polite.

"What?" Zeus snapped.

" _Alex!"_ A panicked female voice shouted. Matt concentrated a bit, wasn't that the younger sister?

"Dana? What is going on?" Now the creature sounded worried.

" _You have to get to the tower. Now! There is trouble"_

"What kind of trouble?"

" _Tony got a video. There's a Hunter on it. Alex, I think Redlight's back again!"_

There was a string of curses, most of them in a variation of different languages.

" _Alex, you have to get back here. Fury wants the Avengers to check this out."_

"I'm there in a moment!" The virus growled. It slapped the phone back into its pocket. It turned back towards the Devil. "I gotta go", it snarled, "Something came up. If I catch you trying to disturb one of my meals again, I will throw you across the city. Understood?"

"Clear as the day", Daredevil replied. Zeus grunted and leapt off the floor.

Matt let out a shaky sigh, his exhaustion and the pain from the bruises finally set in. He sank back against the broken wall, retrieving his own phone. It was Stark-Tech and one of the first things he got from the Avengers.

"Call Foggy", he said darkly.

His friend picked up after the third ring. _"Matt?"_

"Could you maybe get Claire to meet me in my apartment?" He asked.

" _Shit, did those Russian rough you up? I told you that would happen"_ , Foggy snapped.

"The Russians didn't manage to touch me- much", the Devil replied as he struggled back to his feet when the sirens became louder. "But I met Zeus."

" _Zeus?"_ Foggy sounded confused. _"Like Thunder God?"_

"No. Like the thing that tore open Manhattan 2008", Matt grunted, "It wasn't really happy about me disturbing its lunch." He hissed as pain flared up from his sides. He assumed the virus had broken a rib when it grabbed him. "This lunch _being_ the Russians. Hell... I better just come home."


	9. New Headings

New Headings

 _November 9_ _th_ _, 2013_

Dana let out a grunt as she hit the floor hard. This didn't deter her though as she swept her leg out, trying to catch her opponent off guard.

The hacker didn't stand a chance as her foe easily avoided and pinned her down, fist raised above her head.

"And there you have it. You have been defeated in thirty seconds", Dana's opponent declared, getting up to help the young woman to her feet.

"But we are up to thirty seconds now", the younger Mercer sibling claimed. "I call it progress."

The other grinned a bit by that, hand searching through her bag to hand her a bottle full of water.

"Thanks for helping me out, Natasha", Dana said, taking a sip. "I really don't want to rely on others to rescue my butt."

"It's no problem", the spy replied, "I understand what you are going through. Your brother is a viral super mutant that can easily tear Steve a new one, you are surrounded by people stronger than you, and still you don't want to be a burden to us."

"Yeah, I'm getting better with guns too. Clint said I'm really good now."

"See? Progress." Natasha smiled. "I still don't get it why you asked me to help you with your self defense training. I'm a bit out of your league. I think Steve or Clint would be a better partner- Clint isn't as strong as I am and Steve would be really careful not to hurt you."

Dana waved it off. "You weren't around last week when I started with Clint. The moment he had me pinned to the ground Alex appears out of nowhere, Claws and Armor out and ready to shred the poor guy. He chased Barton through the entire tower until I managed to call him off. I decided then that I should train with you, since my overprotective asshole of a brother doesn't want me near any male. He even starts growling when I talk to Steve, and he friggin' _loves_ Captain America."

"But he leaves you alone with a dangerous Russian spy that could kill a grown man on at least a hundred different ways using office supplies."

Dana winced. "Not really..." She raised her voice. "ALEXANDER JAMES MERCER!"

There was a metallic clank somewhere, followed by a hasty scuttling sound.

Natasha quirked her eyebrow and looked up to the shaking air vent. "He's... inside the air vents?" she asked incredulously. "That's... too small even for me."

"He CAN shapeshift", Dana reminded her. "He doesn't need to sleep, so he keeps an eye on me almost 24/7 until he decided whether I am in danger here or not." She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "That's also a reason why I take self-defense classes with you."

"His middle name is James?" Natasha wanted to know.

"It is. What did you think?"

"Jackass", the spy said in all honesty. Dana stared at her for a moment, then both erupted in laughter. "I think that's even better." The younger woman stated between giggles.

"I think so too", the older woman admitted, "But now you should go and take a shower, we want you all chipper and fresh."

Dana chuckled and ran off to her room. Natasha stood in the hallway, smile slowly melting to a more serious expression. "I know you're here, Mercer", she said out loud, "You can stop watching me."

"How do you know?" A disembodied voice asked. The spy turned around, watching a thick black-and-red ooze slowly trickle out of the air vent.

"I can tell", she replied, watching with morbid amazement how the ooze piled up to reshape itself into the hooded form of the Blacklight Virus. "I am a hunter too. Predators always know when a larger one is watching them."

"So you admit I'm stronger than you?" The Prototype asked with amusement in his tone.

"You can break me in half without as much as a thought", Romanoff answered truthfully. "I know my limits, and you are far out of my class. Hell, you could probably go toe-on-toe with Thor or Hulk and emerge no worse for wear. This is why I will tell you once more: Neither of us is going to hurt Dana. She is not only your little sister. She is ours now as well. And all of us look after each other." She huffed out, eyeing him as he walked past her. "Don't you have anything to do?"

"I wouldn't know what", came the earnest reply.

"The toaster's broken", Natasha began. "You could help Tony fix his suit. Or work with Bruce on that Super-important-science stuff. You could take a run with Steve and Sam. Or play with Bucky this infernal game with the little colorful Go-karts. Oh. You could also look for Gang Members to eat."

Alex chuckled as he walked off. He was going to lurk in the shadows most likely, Natasha though before she retreated to her own quarters to shower and change her clothes.

-OoOoO-

 _10_ _th_ _November, 2013, around 10 p.m._

"Hey, Tony?" Dana began, looking up from the holographic keyboard in front of her.

"Hmmm?"

"I just checked the data SHIELD collected during the early year 2008."

"And?"

"As soon the shit hit the fan back then, they began hacking into the Marines, into Gentek and Blackwatch. SHIELD knew days before Alex about Hope, they knew about Elizabeth Greene and they knew about the nuke. Why didn't they send the Avengers?"

"2008 the Avengers didn't exist. Bruce was hiding in Brazil. Steve was still on ice. Thor was still on Asgard. Nate and Clint could not deal with the situation", Tony told her. "Hell, 2008 was when I got kidnapped in Afghanistan. I was gone from March to August, so I returned to a devastated New York City. I have been the one to organize the clearing of the last hives and infected."

"Did SHIELD get the Bloodtox from there?"

"I found out about it. I made it better. It killed the last of the infected fast and without any survivors. Fury was the one who personally dragged the secrets of Blackwatch and Gentek into the open, but in the end they declared it still was a terrorist attack. They cleared your brother's name though, replaced him with that Greene woman."

"I wondered why nobody looked at us closer", Dana mumbled. She blinked, then turned to the billionaire. "Wait, you said you made the Bloodtox better?"

"I did. Worked perfectly."

"SHIELD used it in Rio on my brother!"

Tony whipped around, face set in shock. "What?!"

"He puked up Biomass for two weeks", the younger sibling explained. "He was unable to consume and he told me that most of his powers didn't work anymore. He ran back to me from Rio! On foot!"

"Oh hell", Tony groaned. "You have to believe me, I didn't know SHIELD was going to use the stuff on a person."

"It's... it's all right. You couldn't know about this and Alex _was_ going to maul Natasha and Clint, after all." She fell silent, staring at the screen in front of her.

"But what about the others?" she asked eventually. "Spiderman, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four? Why didn't they help with the infection?"

"Mhm. Parker wasn't Spiderman at this time. He was still a normal kid, stayed in Queens with his uncle and aunt during the events." He frowned a bit when he tried to remember more. "The X-Men wanted to help but there was this 'No Mutants' policy. Charles nearly popped a blood vessel at that. Murdock was actually in town when it happened, but he wasn't Daredevil back then. He was amongst the first to be evacuated to the Green Zones, because he's blind. He sneaked back and helped the people, though. Richards and the Fantastic Four weren't in town either. They returned as soon Blackwatch closed off all streets. They weren't allowed inside." Tony lifted his hands in a soothing gesture before Dana could snap at him. "I know, I know. At least Human Torch could have done a really good job burning through the infected, but there still was the danger of them contracting the infection and spread it further without them knowing. And Reed is a coward when it comes to facing the government. At least he and his team immediately started working on counter measures. They invented some of the serious fire power like those Thermobaric Tanks and they helped with the development of the viral detectors, as well as the Bloodtox. Blackwatch did a good job keeping everybody else out."

"Don't let Alex hear that", Dana deadpanned. "Because those were the things he hated most back then."

"Yeah, I think I'll tell Reed about this. Just to see him squirm." He paused. "Your brother doesn't hold grudges, does he?"

"Not anymore. He became a lot less violent in those past five years. He still rips a man in halves if he decides that he must die, but he tries to limit the damage he causes to objects and people. He's trying really hard to be a better person." She crossed her arms and snorted in a mixture between amusement and sadness. "I know he's not really my brother. Hell, he's not even a 'he'. He's an 'it'. A killer virus that has been programmed to kill, assimilate and take over every organic matter. But every time I see him, I think back to the time when we were children. I know he can't because Alex was dead when the new Alex was born, the new version doesn't know _anything_ about what happened. But...but there is always something beneath the surface." She sighed, hugging herself. "Tony, I know this sounds weird, but deep down I am _afraid_ of him. With a good reason too. The first time he met me was when he _punched his fist through a man's chest_. Right in front of me. I know how he ticks, most of the time. He tries to protect me and I am about the only person that he would most likely _never_ murder and consume. It is because he feels some sort of attachment to me. He doesn't have to, he's not my real brother. I'm sure when Blacklight manages to get the best of him, he will start consuming everybody, starting with you to get knowledge. Then he would continue with Nate and Pepper, because they can tell whether you are the real you or not. Then he'd eat up Clint and Rhodey, then Steve and Bucky. When he's finished with the twins, because they have to _sleep_ at some point, he's gonna take a break and eat the Spider Dude and the Blind Nutjob until he as assimilated the Super Soldier Serum and the twin's abilities. After that, he'll eat Bruce to get his immunity towards radiation, then he's gonna go at Vision. Vision's not really human, but at the last moments of the Chitauri invasion Alex managed to adapt to those aliens, so Vision's only another snack. Thor's gonna be harder, but Alex can wear him down by injuring him enough, then he can eat him too."

"Now, THAT is reassuring."

"But Alex would never do that", Dana continued. "At the end of the infection Alex realized how sick this whole consuming was. He tried to end it, live like a real human. It didn't go really well. But that is when _Blacklight_ got the stronger influence over him. It controls his actions when he fights, so it is quite hard to find out where Alex ends and Blacklight begins, but they certainly try to distance themselves from each other, even though they are the same. Believe me, I've seen Alex actually arguing with Blacklight, though I think they came to an agreement. Blacklight does the killing and Alex just tells it what to kill and what not."

"Well, that is very comforting", Tony mumbled.

"It's a stable truce", the younger woman said, "They are the perfect team, as long as Alex takes care Blacklight is well fed. Then they have no trouble getting along."

"So just like having a dog then", Tony noted. "A big, shapeshifting Hell Hound of Mass destruction that can easily take over the world if master doesn't keep the leash short."

Dana chuckled. "Something like that." He face turned sour again. "But the real problem is not when they are arguing. It's when they _agree_ on something. And that turns ugly really fast."

"I can imagine", Tony grimaces.

"Sir", Friday suddenly piped up. "Colonel Rhodes just called. He wants to talk to you. Urgently."

"Put him on screen then."

In an instant, Rhodey's face appeared on the holographic screen. _"Thank god you are there, Tony."_

"What is so important that it couldn't wait for our weekly meeting?" Tony asked with a grin.

" _This is no laughing matter"_ , the other replied with an edge in his voice. _"One of my friends in the army sent me a video clip. It is really important."_

The billionaire didn't reply as he tapped a few keys, drawing the clip off his best friend's phone and onto his computer.

The image came to life. It was a shaky picture, like somebody running while holding a phone backwards. _"FUCKING HELL!"_ The owner of the phone swore violently, speeding up when something exploded behind him. _"THE FUCK ARE THOSE THINGS?!"_

" _I HAVE NO IDEA SARGE!"_ Another voice shouted. It appeared the man was the last in a group of men fleeing. _"BUT THEY GOT MYERS ALREADY!"_

There was a roar as something... huge leapt into the picture. The owner of the phone barely managed to avoid, but whatever it was must have gotten hold of one of the soldiers. The man's screaming was abruptly ended with a loud crunch.

" _FUCK FUCK FUCK!"_

The clip suddenly ended.

Rhodey sighed. _"My friend and about half of his team managed to escape whatever this thing was. He sent me this so I give it to you."_

"I'm locating their position as we speak", Tony explained. "What's his name?"

" _James"_ , Rhodey began. _"James Heller. Tony, that dude is my best friend next to you. He was the one who pointed the helicopters that found you in the right direction. I'm not going to let him die there."_

"Me neither", the billionaire explained seriously. "Okay, got them. With the Quinjet we can be there within a few hours. I made upgrades to its jet system."

" _Please, hurry up."_

"I will, but first I have to find out what that was."

" _Just be there, okay? Heller's waiting for help."_ Rhodey cut the connection.

Tony mumbled something, winding the clip back to where the thing appeared. With a nearly impossible accuracy, he stopped the video at the right time.

"Friday, please enhance it. I need it sharper and less blurry and stuff."

The AI quickly finished the process, leaving Tony to stare at a nightmarish entity. It was easy as large as a grown bull elephant and was completely coated with grayish, decaying skin. Its muscles were bulging under the enormous power it used to pounce at the men. Its paws ended with giant claws, but it still appeared shockingly _human_. Its face was barely recognizable, with its eyes, ears and nose being just tiny sunken black spots next to a giant maw filled with razor sharp teeth.

"Ho Lee Fuck", Tony gasped, "Just what are you, ugly?"

"I know", came Dana's thin voice. Oh great, he just forgot about the second person in this room. When Tony turned around, he was startled to see the young woman staring in terror at the image. She was shaking violently, her face was pale and eyes widened.

"I know what it is", she repeated again, trying to muster enough courage to continue. "I've seen them. In New York...We call them Leader Hunters."


	10. Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the rabbit hole

 _11_ _th_ _November, 2013_

The inside of the Quinjet was suffocating silent. They had just finished going through the files SHIELD gave them on the Manhattan incident. Even Tony, who has been on-site after everything was done, didn't know how devastating the infection really was. It was a true miracle that there have been so many people left in New York two years later. Alex had provided them with additional information that SHIELD didn't know about or simply left out and now the group was sitting on the jet, staring at nothing in particular as they mulled over the events that were going to follow.

If that thing on the video clip was really a Leader Hunter- and Alex said it was so- then that meant they had to deal with a completely new Redlight infection. As a precaution Dana had them bring two tanks of Stark's Bloodtox with them. They were bolted to the far wall, and Alex sat furthest away from them.

It was Natasha who decided on how the team was made up, to maximize the success rate and limit casualties. They already lost about ten good men to those infected, they didn't need any more.

So in the end the team was made up of Alex- since he had the most experience with the infected AND was a walking infection himself, Thor was there because his kin is immune to almost all known kinds of diseases, Steve and Bucky who merely had to equip a gas masks as soon they touched down, as well as Stark and Rhodes who were to leave their damn suits on and sealed shut at any given time as to not fall victim to Redlight.

"How do we fight these Hunters?" Steve asked eventually, "What about their powers?"

"Normal Hunters are a lot stronger than normal humans", Alex explained. "Five of them are easily able to tear through a tank and kill an entire squad, but that doesn't mean that a mere man can not take them out. If you know how they behave, it's easy to kill them with enough force. They have about the same intelligence as wolves, can climb up vertical buildings and attack fast. They use their claws and jaws for main combat, combined with some head butting and charge attacks, but they often charge straight at you, giving you enough time to simply dive under them and attack them from behind. They have one spinal column and one brain- break both and the Hunter goes into a regenerative phase during which it is easy to pick off. Leader Hunters are similar, but they are much stronger and somewhat more intelligent. However, the thing that goes for Hunters also goes for them. They have two spinal columns and two brains, so knocking them on their ass is a bit harder, but still manageable. Also, unlike Redlight itself Hunters don't infect anybody by touch alone. They have to injure somebody or you have to ingest pieces of them, other than that you'll be fine. Don't forget, even though they have been humans at one point, they are now monsters. It is _impossible_ to change them back." He paused for a moment. "Also, Hunters are generally one of the last creatures to emerge from a Hive. And this means we are about to walk straight into Manhattan 2.0, hordes of Zombies included."

Thor made a disgruntled sound at the back of his throat. "So you say all we can do is free the unfortunate souls from the prison they have been cast in. To destroy the monstrosity to allow the mortals a peaceful rest in Helheim?"

"Something like that", Alex agreed.

"What about the Bloodtox?" Bucky asked, "Can't we use it to flush out the infected?"

"Heavy risk there", Tony declared. "This stuff is dangerous, even to normal people. To compensate for this, I made it so that it breaks down fast as to not further damage the organics around it. I doubt it'll stays intact long enough for destroying a Hive. Especially when they are hidden in those thousand of caves down there." He nodded towards the mountain range visible through the window.

"Why?" Rhodey inquired. "I thought this stuff only affects infected and our resident walking virus?"

"It's not that simple", the Ironman admitted. "The first Bloodtox Reed made for Blackwatch in 2008 was basically a really strong antiviral agent that has been designed to work against all known strands of Redlight and Blacklight. However, as time passed both viruses became immune towards it- while Redlight still gets sluggish and attackable, Blacklight merely laughs it off."

"That's me, always evolving, always becoming better."

Tony ignored the others' input as he continued. "The stuff I made is something different. Except for the color and the name it's a new gas."

He took a deep breathe. "Let us take a short trip to the wonderful world of viral genetics."

"When did you become an expert on viruses?" Rhodey quipped.

"During my work for Blackwatch. October 5th. I had nothing better to do while sitting on the porcelain throne from a very mean taco." Tony gave back before getting his head back in the game. "Now, most viruses function by inserting their genetic code into a healthy cell and force it to replicate more of the virus. In Blacklight's case this works within seconds and allows it to swallow up the entire organism- but that's besides the point."

Oh wow. Leave it to Stark to figure out that Alex's feeding was actually just another way of infecting and changing organics into more Blacklight mass.

"Now the thing is, most of the known viral suckers out there- no offence there dude, please don't eat me- they don't have a _DNA_. A virus has a Ribonucleic Acid, short _RNA_. The main difference between DNA and RNA is that the RNA is only one strand and has _Uracil_ as one of its bases, a base that DNA has replaced with _Thymine_. And that is where I attack. The Bloodtox I made works only on the specific chemical structure of Uracil. So basically, I developed stuff that ignores everything about the genetic code and straight up works on a chemical ground. My 'Stark' Tox will affect only Uracil and breaks its chemical structure down. This results in the genetic code of viruses falling apart, and the virus dies."

"It was a real pain", Alex confirmed. "I don't want to experience that again."

"Honestly man, I'm sorry about that. I would have never expected SHIELD to use it against a _person_. Even when one is not a virus, this stuff is pure health hazard."

Rhodey frowned, trying to remember biology in school. Steve and Bucky both shared confused looks with Thor. Suddenly, the Iron Patriot's face lit up in surprise. "Wait a moment. RNA is in living cells too!"

"And is there a crucial part to the production of proteins and the creation of new cells", Tony nodded. "When the RNA in live cells gets shot too, then the organism will die a slow and painful death. This is why I designed this stuff to break down quickly. In that way, it will only affect a handful of cells on the surface of an organism, not all of them. Since viruses generally don't come in man-size, it is a safe way to get rid of them. Nobody but me knows how to make it, another safety measure. But I wouldn't advice taking a full bath in the stuff."

"So this is why", Alex noted, "Even if the Bloodtox only affects cells on the surface, it affects my whole body. When I am agitated, my entire structure shifts around, so I can regenerate and shift without delay."

"And your outside slips into your body, taking the Tox with it and causes havoc away from the surface", Tony finished.

"Guess this is why I kept throwing up Biomass. My system rejected the damaged cells so my body won't be destroyed. And the puking afterwards was probably my own paranoia, I didn't want any more of the stuff inside, so Blacklight refused to consume." A smirk appeared on his face. "And that means I just have to change my armor so it even acts as a barrier against chemical compounds by not allowing anything to filter through. Thanks for letting me know."

"That's it", Hill suddenly declared as the Quinjet went down. "Time for you to get off and start working."

"Hill. I want you to take all of the remaining soldiers into the jet." Steve ordered. "When we give you a signal- or things start looking bad- you will get off the ground and take the men out. Do not come back for us."

"You better take care you survive", Hill gave back. "There is still a load of charity work for you to do."

"Then I pray we die out there", Bucky claimed solemnly. Steve reacted by punching him in the shoulder with a poorly-hidden grin.

The Quinjet touched down near an abandoned village, dust whirling up.

"This is it", Rhodey grumbled when the hatch opened. "Let's kick some ass."

-oOo-

It was late afternoon and the sun was almost beginning to set. The abandoned village at which the jet had touched down was eerily silent. There wasn't even any wind blowing down from the mountains.

"Be on guard", Steve orders, his voice greatly turned mechanic by the high-tech gas mask he wore. Tony switched through the different modes of his visor, finally settling for the infrared. "Twelve bodies over there", he declared, "Still warm, still moving. We found our soldiers."

"Good. Get to them. Don't spook them unless we want bullets in our bodies", Steve decided.

"Yeah, you know what? I rather go first", Rhodey mumbled with a mechanic tone. "Jim and I go way back. We were the Double Jays back in the academy."

Tony snorted amused. "Seriously Rhodey? And I thought I was your best friend."

"You are my best _rich_ friend. Heller's my _favorite_ best friend."

They came closer to what must have been a school building. The heat signatures came from the inside. As Rhodey drew closer, he heard the telltale clicking of guns. He slowed down, sauntering through the doorway while flicking his visor up. They weren't in infected area. Yet.

"Easy Jim. It's me", he said a bit louder.

He heard an exhausted groan, moments before twelve haggard-looking men and women came from their cover. Their leader was a muscular black man with shaved head.

"Fuck, Rhodey", their Staff Sergeant ground out and rubbed his tired eyes. "It's good to see you, man."

"You look like Hell", the Iron Patriot replied, clapping his hand in the others. "I'm glad you're still alive."

"But we lost eleven of our soldiers", Heller growled.

"Eleven? But you said ten before?"

"Hall didn't pull through. She was too seriously injured."

"Where's the body?" The soldiers turned slightly to see a guy with a leather jacket and a gray hood stand in the doorway. His icy silvery blue eyes flashed golden for a moment.

"Who's that one?" Heller questioned. "With any lack of armor I'd say Asgardian, but they don't wear biker getup."

"The name's Mercer", Rhodey said, "On missions he listens to 'Zeus', though."

"I only ask once again", the hooded man growled. "Where's the body?" He noticed how the soldiers were glaring at him, so with great effort he calmed himself down, trying to sound reasonable. "Look. I just have to make sure she didn't get infected, okay? You already had problems with that one Hunter, you don't really need more of them."

Heller grunted. "We had to dump the body", he growled unhappily. "Didn't even get the tags and everything, but we're not dense. We had to leave it behind as to not slow us down."

Rhodey nodded slowly. He knew how hard that decision could be. To leave any comrade behind.

"I think that might come back to bite you in the ass", Zeus suddenly stated, eyes squinted. "There are infected coming. Big Infected."

"Stay here Jim", Rhodey ordered grimly. "We are getting company."

He had his faceplate down and was outside in an instant. Zeus was next to him and the remaining team assembled around them.

"Remember what I told you", the virus growled. "Hit them hard, hit them fast and kill them off when they are stunned, but don't let yourself be hit."

"I think I can remember that", Bucky grinned under his mask as they heard a loud roar.

Moments later, a massive gray-skinned monster darted around a corner. It stopped on the street, roaring again- this time with the maw situated at the back of its head.

"And there we have that Leader Hunter that attacked", Tony deadpanned.

"And its best friend. The second Leader Hunter", Alex grinned, claws forming.

"And their gang", Steve finished. "The four Hunters."

"Dibs on the Leader!" Zeus shouted, already pouncing at one of the two.

"I shall call 'dibs' on the second one!" Thor boomed and charged as well.

Bucky shrugged. "Looks like we'll be getting the normal ones."

-o-

Steve grunted, whipping his shield up to block the oncoming strike. The Hunter struck with so much force that is shattered its own wrist, reeling back in pain. Steve grimaced and leapt up, swinging his shield in an arc to separate the monster's head from its shoulders.  
The Hunter keeled over, dead. Steve shook his shield free of any blood and turned to check on his team mates.

Bucky wasn't having many troubles. He dodged around his infected opponent, easily avoiding any attacks it threw his way while shooting at it at the same time. As the Hunter started to slow down, Bucky grabbed its shoulder and jumped over its back, emptying his entire magazine into the thing's brain. When it started stumbling, the Winter Soldier rammed his metallic fist deep into the monster's core, killing it instantly.

A loud series of gunshots came from further down the street, where Iron Patriot was filling the Hunter that faced him with lead. When it came close enough, Rhodey simply grappled the thing and shot skywards, taking the struggling infected with him.  
Seconds later and he turned back around, ramming the Hunter into the ground at high speed to splatter it.

"I really hope this comes off", Tony commented dryly as he fired a Repulsor shot at his enemy. A massive smoking hole was punched through its chest, but it was still kicking.  
So the Ironman lunged at the Hunter, ramming a grenade deep into its throat. As soon as the billionaire had taken a jump back, the explosive went off, taking the skull and any tissue near it with it.

Thor was having the time of his life. These Leader Hunter creatures certainly were more resistant than most Midgardian creatures. Too bad they were highly dangerous to the mortals, or else he would have left some for the Warrior's three and Sif. The God swung his hammer upwards, calling forth a massive lightning strike. The Hunter roared in pain as the elements raced through its body, burning its entire system away.  
It collapsed in a charred heap at the God's feet.

Alex whistled. This really was an amazing show. Now he wished he had all day to watch the Avengers take down a horde of infected, because it was fucking awesome.  
Sadly he didn't have any time. With a small sigh he shaped his left arm into a Dana-sized blade and easily dodged around the Leader Hunter. With a mighty pounce he leapt on that thing's back, shattering both its spines with his power and hooked his claws into its skin. Then he swung the blade down, decapitating it in an instant.  
The feeder tendrils erupted from his back, digging deep into the infected tissue to dissolve and absorb it.

After finishing his meal, the virus turned to his team mates, frowning slightly, even as he began consuming the other carcasses that lay around (minus the one Thor fried. Torched food was not to his taste.)

"That's strange", he mumbled, "Something's not right."

"What? Not juicy enough?" Bucky asked.

"No. They're... too chewy", was the reply. "At the same time, they are easier on the palate than normal Redlight Hunters, but something leaves a weird after taste in my mouth."

"Spoken like a true connoisseur", Tony joked, "I will remember this for the cooking book we are going to write. The title: 'How to feed your Eldritch Abomination'."

"Har-di-har", Rhodey growled. "Did you forget the reason we were here in the first place? We still have to get Heller and his crew out-ACK!"

Something hit him. Hard.

The Avengers whirled around, noticing only now that there was a fifth Hunter leaping away from them and towards the US Army Soldiers that just filtered out of the building.

Alex reacted first, pouncing at the creature. He managed to catch it by its leg, but the Hunter reacted by simply _tearing off_ its own limb to avoid the hooded man. So it was a special kind of Hunter? More intelligent, more cunning and without troubles of making sacrifices.

Also, it was a bit smaller, had larger front talons and a series of spikes along its body.

A mutation. Great.  
A pair of dog tags was jingling around its neck.

"FUCKING HELL!" The Staff Sergeant roared. The Hunter had singled him out to be its victim and was about to shred him when Heller dropped to his knees, scooting under its wide swing.  
It noticed too late the grenade the man had planted under its claw. When it went off and tore its arm off, the Hunter reeled over. Heller quickly continued his assault, drawing his military knife and latching on the thing's neck. With a series of wild swipes, he managed to tear a hole into its flesh and immediately plunged another grenade into it. The hunter roared again, but Heller had retreated to a safe distance already. A second later the grenade went off and ripped its head right off.

"Not bad", Alex congratulated him while the Avengers stared at him in awe. "Really impressive for a squishy human."

"No soldier deserves a fate like that", the Sergeant grumbled, retrieving the tags from the still creature. "Hall was a good person. She didn't deserve to turn into a monster."

He turned away, leaving Zeus with the clean-up. Instead, he turned towards Rhodey.

"It's personal now, Rhodey", he growled. "These freaks messed with the wrong guy. I want on with that."

"I understand your feelings, Jim, but how are you going to manage this? You can't keep on doing that without any help."

"I have an idea."

Rhodey's eyes widened as he took a step back. "Oooh no. Oh no. Nononono. You can't make me."

Heller grinned evilly. With the blood clinging to him, he looked like he came straight out of a Slasher movie. "Of course I can."

-o-

Five minutes and a quick decontamination later and Colonel Rhodes stood in the sand, arms crossed and glaring at his best friend, who was testing out the motions of the Iron Patriot suit.

"Dude, that's like the meanest thing you could have done. It's my suit. You can't just steal my suit."

"I deserve that suit", Heller replied. "After all, I just took on a fucking Hunter using a knife and some grenades alone."

"And it never has been your suit to begin with", Tony threw in. "It was my suit until you stole it from my house." He turned to the other man. "And besides, I recognize badassery when I see it. Mr. Heller, you deserve that suit. Also, since you have been showered with infected blood, the suit will continue to monitor your vitals and blast your body with concentrated UV radiation from time to time to make sure you don't turn Zombie on us."

"See? Even the fancy rich boy agrees", Heller grinned.

Rhodey glared. "Okay. I hope you get eaten", he eventually growled unhappily. "Just that you know I will watch your team for you while we drink tea and swap stories. About you. About your time as a rookie. Just you wait. My revenge will come."

He marched off, taking the remaining soldiers with him.

"Now what?" Steve asked.

"We should keep going back to the North West", Heller informed him. "That's where those things attacked us. There's a compound hidden amongst the cliffs."

"Sounds like a plan", Alex agreed. "That's also where they came from." He frowned, tendrils still writhing. "However, something is not right. The memories of those hunters... they were messed up, like watching a program with bad reception." He held out his hand with tentacles slithering across it. "Also, I found this inside their brains", he explained, dropping a few micro chips into Tony's eager hand.

"Well, look at that", the genius claimed as he scanned the items. "Those look like neural behavior controls."

"In English?" Steve wanted to know.

"Somebody's been controlling these freaks", the billionaire defined. "Somebody who wanted some really mean watch dogs."

"The last Hunter didn't have one of those", Zeus stated matter-of-factly, "Also, it tasted much better than the others." He squirmed a bit. "It's almost as if the others are causing a mild case of indigestion."

"Maybe you shouldn't have eaten so much", Bucky suggested. "At any rate, we should check out that compound."

"I can't wait to crush a few fuckers", Heller agreed.

"Wait a sec", Tony suddenly called out, turning the chips around. "Cap, does this logo ring any bells?"

Steve frowned at the small symbol printed on the backside of the chip. Realization hit him instantly as he recognized the tentacled skull.

"HYDRA..."


	11. Hail Hydra

Hail Hydra

Tony shivered a bit when his eyes landed on the massive gate to the base that was hidden within the mountain. The probability of HYDRA hiding out in the same place that he was abducted to in 2008 were almost zero, but 'almost' was not 'not'.

"Oh flipping whee", the genius grumbled. "Good happy memories there. That's my old hostage room."

"That's part of the reason we were around here", Heller commented. His voice was altered through the metal armor. "We could figure out where you came from when we picked you up, but once we stormed the place, it was empty. Except for the body of an elderly man."

"Yinsen", Tony mumbled ruefully.

Heller nodded. "We figured as much. Anyways, the Ten Rings were gone. We thought they wouldn't return, but were supposed to check it out every five months or so. And this time we discovered activity. And Hunters."

"So HYDRA moved in within those past five months", Steve concluded, "And that means they knew your observation pattern."

"HYDRA has its roots everywhere", Bucky grunted. "I say we just go in there and kill everything, ask questions later."

"That's what I came to say", Alex huffed out. "Still, something's weird. I can't see any hints of this here being a Hive. There are no organic growths, no Walkers in the perimeters, no stench of decay. Still, the Hunters came from here, but where exactly?"

"I assume we shall find out once we are inside", Thor claimed.

"Uh... guys?" Tony suddenly piped up, "Duck!"

The Avengers dove behind a rock, carefully peeking around.

"HYDRA Agents?" Steve sounded surprised, "Didn't you say that there are no people when there are Hives?"

"Normally not", Alex gave back. "Unless...they managed to catch the Hunters back in New York City and brought them here, using the micro chip to control them."

"Do they live that long?"

"I have no idea. I killed the last ones about three months after that whole shit went down, but since I am technically immortal, it is possible that normal Hunters can survive for years."

"Then we have to proceed carefully", Steve muttered.

"Or..." Tony began. They were pretty sure he had a smug grin under his face plate. "Since we have Thor here and Zeus, I'd say we unleash God's fury on them."

"Works for me", Heller shrugged. "I'm not sure I can actually sneak in this metal can."

"Fine", Steve sighed. "Just stick together until we decide differently. Okay?"

Thor grinned and stood up, raising Mjöllnir skywards. The sky darkened when thunder and lightning sprang forth. With a thrust of his weapon, the God directed a mighty lightning bolt right at the sealed gate. The HYDRA guards dove to the side as the strike connected with the metal of the door and tore it open.

Before the dust settled, the six were already dashing through. Projectiles impacted around them, but none connected. Within moments, they had cleared out the first room and continued their way through the compound.

"It's a bit larger than last time I was here", Tony noted when they stopped at a three-pronged fork in the way. "And there wasn't so much technical stuff floating around."

"I can confirm that", Heller added. "But this whole stuff- they must've worked for quite a time. It's strange we didn't notice that."

"Then HYDRA knew about your schedules", Bucky grumbled. "Which way now?"

 _*BANG*_

The Winter Soldier whirled around, barely noticing that Zeus had gotten between him and the would-be assassin who just shot at him, catching the bullet with his body. With a low growl, the virus charged at the man and slammed him into the cave wall, tendrils shooting from his body to consume the goon. The man's body jerked violently, then it began to vanish.

Heller and Tony made a startled noise, while Steve grimaced. Thor arched an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Alex pulled his tendrils back a moment later, still glaring at the now empty wall.

"And?" Captain America asked. "Where to now?"

"I...I have actually no idea", Zeus replied awkwardly.

"You claimed by devouring a man you can read his memories", Thor questioned, "Was his mind shielded?"

"That's not it." A black tendril whipped from his arm, depositing a small charred and heavily damaged object into his palm. He eyed it, brows furrowed. "Stark, what do you think is this?"

"Looks like a small detonator", the genius declared, "Where did you find it?"

"In the guy's brain", was the answer. "This is why I didn't get any information from him."

"As soon you started infecting him to turn him into food, the bomb exploded and took his brain with it", Tony finished. "Now that's wicked. They took your greatest power away from you."

"I seriously start hating HYDRA", the Prototype grumbled unhappily.

"Get in line", Bucky said. "But where to now?"

"Since we didn't encounter anything resembling a Hive, I'd say we split up", Steve suggested. He had his hands up to quell any upcoming argument. "We keep the COM links open. They know we are here, so we have to hurry. Stark, you and I will go down the left way. Mercer, you and Heller take the right route. Thor, you and Bucky use the middle one. Whenever you encounter anything that looks like a half-minced steak, stay clear off it or burn it down. Let's go."

-oOo-

The opposition began to decrease. By now, Tony figured, most of the HYDRA personnel had escaped or was incapacitated. Or they simply hid as Steve assumed.

"How much deeper?" the Captain asked. "I'm not sure whether I like the idea of being trapped underground with a mountain on my head and the possibility of giant mutated monsters waiting to eat us."

"I have no idea", Tony admitted as he flicked through a number of spectrums on his visor. "The whole mountain prevents any contact with a satellite, so if something happens, we are on our own."

"And the Communication between us?"

"Is still stable. But I honestly can't tell you for how much longer. It appears HYDRA is trying to be prepared."

"They had SHIELD infiltrated until 2012", Steve reminded him. "Of course they know a lot about us."

"I seriously hate those Nazis", Tony mumbled. There was a small alarm signal popping up in his line of vision. "Well, look at that. The viral residues are going up."

"So there is a Hive here?"

"Possibly. Let's just be careful." He tilted his head upwards, scanning the many pipes and cables running along the ceiling. "What I'd like to know is why there is so much stuff running into that direction. Why do you need wiring _in and out_ of a Zombie breeding ground?"

"Maybe it was a laboratory before it became a Hive?"

"We'll see."

The soldier and the genius carefully moved deeper into the complex, following the many cables and tubes that ran along the ceiling. Tony's visor was showing the amount of viral particles in the environment going up, but nothing that would have justified suspecting a Hive here.

And suddenly the narrow hallway opened up to a large chamber. It was easily as large as a large warehouse and it was well-filled with different computers and devices. Interestingly, there was a massive furnace in there too. One of those kinds labs use to burn away infected tissues.

Only this was much larger.

"Stark", Steve sounded distressed as he stared at the far-off wall. Tony followed his gaze, freezing for a moment when he noticed something massive bolted to the cave face. It was a giant, snake-like _thing_ with a two-pronged beak-like jaw and a long barbed tongue.

"Well I'll be", Ironman claimed as he carefully came closer. "That thing's a Hydra. In an HYDRA base."

"Hydra?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, one of those freaky monsters that popped up in Manhattan 2008."

"It's dead, isn't it?"

"Looks like it."

"We have to burn the carcass", the soldier growled after overcoming his surprise. "Make sure nothing is left of this."

"I can whip up something with the stuff here", Tony shrugged. He noticed his partner suddenly move up to the dead infected.

"What do you think is this?" Rogers asked. When Stark walked up to him, he noticed a series of pods underneath the Hydra. Some pods were large enough to hold the Hulk, while others were even larger. Inside was some kind of organic matter. It looked equally disturbing and familiar.

Like a half-minced steak.

And only six of the pods were empty.

"I think we found the Hive", Steve noted after a moment.

Tony turned his head slightly, looking at the wires and tubes. "Then that means...HYDRA has been _breeding_ these Hunters in here and did not import them from New York."

He walked over to the computer terminals and switched them on. His face plate prevented Rogers from reading Tony's face, but even so he was sure the man was frowning. "From what I see, this is some fucked-up shit. Give me a moment, I'll read this here through"

 _CRACK_

"I doubt you have a moment", Steve grunted, watching the remaining pods suddenly burst open as ten Hunters freed themselves from where they've been gestating in.

"Okay. Then hold them off", the billionaire ordered. "I'm just gonna download the whole crap here. We can look at it later."

"Please hurry." Captain America growled.

The Hunters roared.

-oOo-

"Fucking shiet!" Heller swore violently as an armored thug dove at him from around a corner, Stun baton in his hand. One of the first things the Sergeant noticed was that he did not like electricity. Especially since those stun batons HYDRA used managed to scramble the suit's systems for a moment before the safety kicked in and repaired the damage.

A second after the surge ran through the suit, Zeus suddenly appeared out of nowhere and crushed the man into the wall, instantly consuming him for his troubles.

"Do you really have to do that?" Heller asked with a grimace. "Because that's fucking sick."

"It's the easiest and quickest way to replenish my Biomass", Mercer gave back irritated. "It's bothersome already that these bombs take away any chance to read their memories."

Heller swore under his breath, but followed the man-eating virus anyways. "Why people though? Why not eat animals? Or plants? They are made of Biomass too."

Alex shrugged. "I was designed to work on humans, after all, guess this is why Blacklight loves consuming people. And where I hunt it is more likely to find a crowd of humans than a large enough animal to eat. Also, I tried eating animals, but for some reason the humans tend to become pissy if I consume a dog or a deer. I have no idea why, but it seems they are more miffed about seeing some non-sentient animal being killed for survival than their neighbor."

"And plants?"

Alex grimaced. "Yeah. Plants are gross. While I can infect and consume plant life, it is harder to do so. It's mainly because of the cell walls that resist Blacklight longer than simple cell membranes. Also, celluloses are hard to ingest."

He paused and wheezed, tendrils running across his frame. Heller watched him, the faceplate masking his expression, but he was certainly not showing too much concern.

"What's the problem?"

"No idea", Zeus gave back, fighting to ignore the numb pain he started to feel in his middle section, "But it is pretty similar to indigestion, I guess. It's not only that though. I feel sluggish and my transformations have slowed down considerably."

"Then lay off eating so many goons."

The virus fixed him a glare that promised a lot of pain before he continued moving deeper into the hideout. They did encounter some more guards, but they were quickly dealt with.

However, the further they moved, the more Heller noticed his companion becoming slower. His reaction to encounters took more and more time and more than once he didn't even manage to shift his arms into any type of weapon before ultimately deciding to punch them with a half-shaped weapon or without any at all.

"Listen here", the Sergeant eventually said as they stopped for a moment. "You don't look good. You are slow and your freaky weapons don't come out any more."

"I know", Alex ground out through clenched teeth. "But I don't know what's going on with me." He winced in pain. "I would guess it's some sort of biological agent hidden in everything I've consumed so far, but even so I should have adapted already to it and gotten immune." Suddenly he stopped, eyes wide in realization. "Unless..."

He turned to Heller. "C'mon. We gotta find a computer terminal, or a lab. There's something I have to check."

"If I may", Friday suddenly piped up from inside the armor, "There's a lab just down the hallway. It does not appear to be guarded."

"Thanks, Friday."

The virus and the Iron Patriot marched into the specified direction. The hallway went on, but there was a small door that led into a small laboratory to the left. It was filled with various lab equipments like computers, several machines, equipment and chemicals. Among the objects was also a strong electronic microscope. Zeus wasted no time switching it on and tearing off one of his own feeder tendrils. Heller watched with a mild confusion as the man put the limb under the microscope to study it.

"Uh- I don't really think we got time for that", the Sergeant voiced his thoughts. "We still have to check everything."

"I am _checking_ out what is going on", Zeus gave back, concentration not wavering. "And in case you haven't noticed, HYDRA has stuffed something into me that is preventing me from fighting efficiently. Why don't you keep an eye on the door and make sure nobody surprises us?"

Heller growled, but decided to play along. He positioned himself in a way behind the door that he could check through the clearance while also being able to throw glances at his companion from time to time.

"Fucking Hell!"

Okay, that sounded like he found what he was looking for. "Anything?"

"Fucking Nanobots!"

Heller blinked. Once. Twice. "Did you just say 'Nanobots' or have I misheard?"

"You heard right. Nanobots", the virus snarled as he hit a key on the computer to show the Sergeant a black-and-white image. There was black matter on it and inside the black matter something was crawling.

"Thy pumped their men up with fucking Nanites", Zeus ranted, "So I would ingest them when consuming."

"Did they damage you?" Now Heller was a bit worried.

"Are in the process of doing so!" He snapped, tendrils whipping across his shape as he winced in pain. "These stupid things are _eating_ me from the inside by burning away my Biomass. I guess I'm lucky I still have so much mass, but it still slows me down and hurts like a bitch." He grunted unhappily. "Fucking HYDRA", he swore a bit. "Of course they had to figure out that organic agents won't stop me for long."

"Because you adapt."

"It's what I do. I can infect and break down anything organic, even if it has been dead and processed in some ways, like cotton and leather. But I can not work with inorganic materials like metal or plastic. In cases I consume stuff like that I let it pile up before rejecting it from my body." He shook his head. "But these Nanomachines are too small for my system to recognize them. _And_ they already attached themselves to my Biomass."

"Can you do anything?" Heller asked.

Zeus drummed his fingers against the table. "There's no question that I will adapt. All I have to do is crank up my internal recognition systems to find even microscopic debris and remove it swiftly before it can bind to me."

"And if it already did?"

The hooded man grimaced. "That's a bit more brutal." He turned to eye the armored man. "To get rid of these bastards already clinging to me, I can either reject most of the Biomass I have, but that is going to be really messy, not to mention will drive me insane with hunger. Or..." He shook his head a bit. "Neither of us is going to like that."

-oOo-

Thor swung his hammer in an arch, hitting about four HYDRA soldiers before slamming the weapon into the ground, causing the ground to shatter. Bucky darted to the front, expertly throwing punches left and right to bring down the men that stumbled from the God's attack. He was a bit worried when they merely groaned and staggered back to their feet.

"These adversaries are truly strong", Thor declared as he created lightning to finally knock them out. "But not strong enough to stand against my power."

"It still irks me", the Winter Soldier grumbled as he shook his metal hand idly. "HYDRA goons should go down at my slightest touch. But these guys kept on fighting." He furrowed his brows. "They are way stronger than normal people. They are...about as powerful as Steve and me."

"But Banner claimed that the serum Doctor Erskine used on Captain Rogers could not be reproduced. Did HYDRA manage this?"

"I sure hope not", Bucky gave back, even as the two continued their way down the hallway. "Because that would mean that about any bad guy we are going to meet has the potential access to guys who can break my ass if I am not careful."

"This means we have to destroy their research here, so they can not re-create those warriors." Thor noted. Bucky nodded grimly, trading his handgun for the rifle he had slung across his back.

A little while later and they stopped in front of a secured door.

"This smells like the armory", the Winter Soldier remarked. "When we set a few charges here, we can blow the entire section up."

Thor nodded and effortlessly knocked the door down.

In front of them was the armory, just as Bucky said. The whole room was completely filled up with a large collection of guns of different sizes. Along the walls were crates with a collection of uniforms.

"Look at that", the soldier called out, "Uniforms. Not only HYDRA. There are some SHIELD suits as well." He leafed through the clothes. "Mhm. Marines, Air Force, NCIS, CSI...what's that? Blackwatch?" He frowned. "Wasn't Blackwatch the group that tried to curb in the infection?"

"According to Stark, they were", Thor confirmed as he went over to the computer terminal. "But the Lady Romanoff explained to me that Blackwatch has been torn apart by your Government as to not lose face, since the Lady Dana was already trying to drag their every misdeed to the light."

"Something like that" Bucky put the uniforms back and went to check the weapon arsenal. "Here is some serious firepower", he noted. "Screw blowing up the whole section here. This stuff can blow the mountain sky-high."

Thor made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat as he kept hacking away on the keyboard. "I keep forgetting how ancient the computers of Midgard are", he mumbled as he finally managed to plug in one of Tony's data storage units to download the information. Bucky smirked awkwardly. It had been a great surprise to them that their resident Thunder God's IQ was even higher than that of Tony. It was just that he had troubles working with outdated electronics.

"James", Thor suddenly spoke up. Bucky furrowed his brow. When that guy used his real name, things went south normally.

"What is it?" He asked, stalking over to the Asgardian.

"Look at this data", the God instructed, waving towards the screen. Bucky leaned closer. "These...these look like the logs of my...reversion to the Winter Soldier", he snarled a moment later. "But the date's all wrong. They began with me in '45. But this...this is from 2008."

"So they are planning on creating a new Winter Soldier", Thor growled. "Another man, torn from his time and friends to create the perfect weapon."

"Yeah, but the upgrades are different to mine", Bucky suddenly noticed. Thor took this as a cue to dig through the files. "This looks more like...biological and technological agents than the serum", he declared.

"Aye", Thor agreed. "Small machines at first. And a virus, it appears. DX-1120." He furrowed his brows. "The men we fought, they are referred to as 'D-Codes'. Super Soldiers made from the same wicked source from where the Blacklight warrior gained his powers."

"Wait" Barnes glared at the files. "That means that HYDRA was in Blackwatch and Gentek, just as they were in SHIELD."

"The Wyrm has far too many heads", Thor snorted. "How much deeper do we need to burrow until we find its black heart and tear it out of its body?"

"Deeper" The Winter Soldier turned away from the console and eyed a large metal vault door at the far wall. "Over there is a cold storage. I bet my arm we'll find that Super Winter Soldier in it." He stalked over, yanking the metal obstruction out of the wall with no effort at all.

Icy air met him and the man had to suppress the unpleasant memories that threatened to emerge from his sub consciousness.

Bucky found himself face-to-face with who he assumed was his successor. A man dressed in plain black slacks, heavily wounded it appeared. At least judging from the sheer amount of metal plating that coated large parts of his torso and the enhanced metal arms that looked eerily similar to his own.

"Thor", Bucky began through clenched teeth, "Call Tony. We're gonna blow everything here up."

* * *

 **Author: Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears we finally have a plot.  
**

 **To avoid any questions that won't be answered in this chapter, but probably in one of the later ones, I will try to put together some answers that might explain a thing or two.  
**

 **fanficbrowser: You claimed that Alex is not as strong as Thor. I agree with you there, because our resident Killer Virus is not as powerful as the Asgardians. But that does not need to stay like that. What Natasha meant was that Alex _can_ be as strong as Thor and the Hulk. Also, it is relatively easy to get at Hulk's powers. By simply Stealth Consuming Bruce Banner (a process that works really fast), Alex would probably get the Hulk's powers without having to fight the big green guy (he might get indigestion, though). However, by consuming about any other hero on Earth, Alex might get enough strength and abilities to face Thor, and we have seen that Asgardians can be killed (see Lady Frig).  
**

 **About Thor: According to his Wiki entrance, Thor has an higher IQ than Tony. Also, unlike the movies told us, Asgard is a highly technically advanced society. I kind of believe that the magic they are using is just another way to use the Power Cosmic (like Silver Surfer does), but they used technology to get access to that, or maybe Asgardians (and Jotunn) are more suspectible to it.**

 **Memory stealing: I believe that Blacklight is able to read the structure of the central nervous system, especially the brain, to replicate the memories of the people it consumed. When the brain is destroyed, Blacklight won't get any memories other than maybe reflexes.**

 **HYDRA: HYDRA is a pain in the ass and I decided to make them my main bad guys. With an organization that has been around since Ancient Egypt (read it up, they just had another name back then), they had all the time in the world to get into every Governmental Group. Rooting them out is going to be a Hell of a Job. I noticed the similarities between Blackwatch and what HYDRA does, and began drawing conclusions: Blackwatch has been founded by HYDRA (most of the soldiers in Blackwatch have no idea, even Randall didn't know about this) as a key for gaining new ways of creating a new race of men. Since Gentek has been founded later on (and had access to Blackwatch's files AND Elizabeth Greene), I think they are HYDRA too. Umbrella too. And Abstergo. And Ceda. And a lot of other antagonistic groups.**

 **Microchips: When there is a way of controlling people, then you can also control monsters. This is going to backlash.**

 **Nanobots: I needed a way to slow down Alex so he doesn't tear the hole complex apart. Since he adapts to everything they throw at him, I used technology. These kind of bots already exist, at least in the first drafts. With HYDRA having rescources everywhere, it is sure to assume that they have the ability to build things that destroy Blacklight Biomass. This would slow Alex down because his body would be more busy trying to repair the damage than fighting. Also, I think that he can easily devour anything that's organic, but has to pass with inorganics. Imagine him eating the residents of a rest home. He would be puking up fake teeth and hips and other things the whole day.**

 **On another note: I might need to slow down with the uploading. My buffer has shrunk down to the finished 12th and the unfinished 13th chapter.**


	12. Do you want to kill a mountain?

Do you want to kill a mountain?

"What are you planning to do?" Heller asked gruffly. There was a mild concern in his voice though, maybe because of _the man-eating killer virus_ who was just fiddling with his armor. Zeus had transformed his hands into an array of tentacles and was carefully removing the front plate of Heller's Iron Patriot suit.

"I need to get to the ARK reactor", Mercer replied, unscrewing bolts with endless caution. "Don't worry. There is still enough metal between you and any infectious tissue that might be around here, so you should be safe."

"I kind of got that", the Sergeant muttered, "The question is ' _Why_ are you trying to get to the ARK reactor?'"

"I'm gonna fry these Nano bastards out of my body", the virus answered as he took off the plate.

Realization sunk in. "Wait..." Heller asked unbelievingly, "You're going to _electrocute_ yourself?"

"That was the idea." Alex took a step back, crossing his arms- eh, _tentacles_. "I told you neither of us is going to like it, but it seems to be about the only choice I have to get these bastards out of my Biomass."

Heller sighed. "Then do it."

"One thing, when I zap myself, you will get shocked too. Most likely not as bad as I will be, but you still will feel it. Also, there is the possibility that I knock myself out for a short period of time. Your suit should resume operating normally in a matter of seconds, so it is going to be your job to take care of me until I get my bearings back together."

"Then just get over with it", the Sergeant grunted, bracing himself.

Alex whipped his tendrils at the suit, wrapping them tightly around the ARK reactor. He eyed the other man and nodded curtly, then plunged his Biomass into the energy field.

A powerful discharge slammed into both men. Heller grit his teeth as the voltage ran through his suit. He could feel some parts of him starting to get singed, but he was lucky that the metal around him lead the electricity away from him. He idly noted the energy levels dropping by several percent.

Alex was a completely different story. The voltage raced through his body, frying his Biomass violently, yet he stubbornly held on to the reactor. The Sergeant could literally see his body turn into charred meat while being repaired in the same moment. The guy ground his teeth together hard enough to nearly shatter them. A good ten seconds later and the discharge gave one last surge, causing both men to stumble away from each other. Heller swore a bit when his sensory systems switched off. He staggered back until he hit a wall, mumbling under his breath until the back-up systems would kick in.

" _Heller?! Mercer?!"_ That was Tony's voice coming from the COM link. _"What's going on with you?! I just lost contact with Zeus and your suit's energy level dropped!"_

"Could be", the Sergeant grunted as the systems finally came back online, "It was all that bastard's idea."

" _How?"_

"These HYDRA idiots have infused their troops with Nanomachines. When he-uh-absorbed them, he ingested the Nanobots too."

" _He shocked them out, right?"_ Tony finished. Heller groaned and turned to look at his companion. Alex was on the floor, his limbs twitching sporadically and there was a mass of tendrils running across his frame. "Yeah", he mumbled. "He's out cold. He said he'll get back in a while, but until then I'm stuck on babysitting duty."

" _Well, isn't that a great timing?"_ Tony remarked. It was only then when Heller heard something besides the genius' voice and heavy breathing. Roaring. _"I was kind of hoping our meat mincer would get his ass over here and start mincing. Okay, I'll just tell Steve to speed up with the tenderizing."_

"Are there _Hunters_ over with you?!"

" _Yup, but no worry. We'll manage. Somehow."_

Tony cut the line and a moment later, a group of HYDRA soldiers suddenly barreled into the small lab. Heller swore. His chest plate hasn't been put back, so he shouldn't catch too many slugs to that area. Oh well. At least he could vent his anger on these idiots.

-oOo-

Tony had cut the line as a Hunter swiped its claw at him. He muttered something under his breath as he lifted his hand and shot it into the head at point-blank.

"Uh Steve? We gotta do this on our own."

"I was afraid you'd say that", the soldier replied, whacking his shield into another Hunter's face, snapping its spine. The creature coiled up, regeneration setting in. Steve sighed, slicing his shield through its throat to decapitate it. "I hate it when it gets this messy", he grunted from behind his gas mask.

"Mhmyesss", Tony replied. "Could you duck for a second?"

Steve didn't ask why, he just dropped to his knees and rolled away from an incoming strike. A second later two red beams shot from Tony's wrists. The billionaire spun in a circle, slicing the lasers through anything around him. When the charges died down and the laser units dropped off the suit, the Hunters and everything around them fell in pieces to the ground.

"Huh", the Captain said, "That was good work. And you finished off the computer terminals too."

"See?" Tony grinned, "I can kill off a bunch of monsters too. And I _don't_ need to be a super soldier. Mind trumps matter once again!"

" _I don't think your mind is mighty enough to trump mine, Stark."_ A voice suddenly sneered from the P.A. System. _"Mine is far more superior."_

"What?" Tony turned and glared at the speakers just below the ceiling. "Who are you?"

" _The Captain should know of me"_ , the voice spoke again. _"For he killed me once already."_

"Zola", Steve growled. "Armin Zola. So there was more than one copy of your brain."

" _Indeed. And I shall not be stopped. As long the Hydra lives, I will live."_ The disembodied voice chuckled. _"Ah, but we had such a great success with the Super Soldier program. Those fools of the Government may have cut off two of our heads, but we could retrieve their information."_ He chuckled again. _"We managed to combine what we retrieved from Doctor Erskine's formula with what we developed. The effects of the virus are incredible."_

Suddenly there was a loud crunch, seconds before the entire back wall shattered. Tony and Steve stepped back, staring at the monstrosity that stepped through the dust. _"Ah, but this one here is one of our first tries to create a new form of Super Soldier. I call it the 'Goliath'. Now then, Gentlemen, may we never see each other again."_

The Goliath roared out, smashing everything in front of it to bits as the micro chip in its brain began to spark. With a grunt, it turned its glowing eyes at Tony and Steve.

It was truly gigantic, standing at least as tall as a five-story building. It was much too large for the hall it was in, so it was forced to crouch. It right arm was heavily atrophied and ended in a thin bony blade. Its body looked quite similar to that of a Gorilla. Its legs were thin and not able to carry its immense weight without help. Its small skull was safely nestled between its giant back-and shoulder muscles. Its eyes glowed and its maw was fully equipped with many sharp teeth. Its left arm was hideously deformed. It was just as tall as the entire creature, looking like a giant tower made of bones, muscles and tissues.

"Hoooo Boy. I thought we only fight giant mutated monsters on every third Thursday a month." Tony whined. "But today is the _second Monday_."

"Stark", Steve groaned. "Less talking, more shooting giant monsters."

"Right." Tony shot up, flying right in front of the Goliath's face. "Open wide!" A bunch of rockets hit it square in the face. The giant stumbled for a second- and flung its bladed arm at the billionaire, swatting him out of the air like an irksome bug.

The explosion didn't bother it at all.

"Oh", Steve mumbled. "Now I could really go for some big guns."

-oOo-

Thor and Bucky had just finished securing the new Winter Soldier when the ground shook. Bucky swore under his breath as the dead weight of the unconscious and frozen man sagged against him.

" _Little help here?!"_ Tony all but shrieked into his COM link. _"Giant mutated monster on rampage!"_

"Where are you?!" Thor bellowed.

" _Still in the hangar on the left side"_ , Steve supplied, then swearing viciously as he dodged an attack.

"Thor!" Bucky shouted, "The wall! Can you do something about it?!"

"No troubles there", the God replied, swinging his hammer. He hit the cave face with much more force than Bucky's ever seen before. Lightning raced through the brittle lime stone from the point where Mjöllnir struck, causing the whole thing to simply shatter and break.

They quickly realized that it might have been a rather stupid move, as the Goliath turned and roared at them.

"Finally!" Thor declared, "A worthy opponent!"

The monster blared again and lifted its disfigured giant arm to crush the Asgardian.

Thor caught the blow with little trouble, locking the monster in that position.

"The legs!" Bucky shouted as he struggled with the unconscious body hanging from his side, "Aim for its legs, Tony! Break them!"

The Ironman didn't question the man's order as he dove at the Goliath. With a both hands he charged up a single Repulsor blast, aiming it at the thing's leg. When he shot the bolt at the limb, it tore through muscles, bones and tendons as if they were made of wet paper. Its other leg was only grazed by the blow, though. The Goliath howled and staggered back, but Steve appeared out of nowhere, slicing his shield through the other leg, separating the tendons as well.

Without a hold, the monster dropped to its knees, bladed arm swinging wildly through the air. It roared again as Thor pushed its arm back, sending it backwards into the wall. Its legs and hips shattered. The Goliath bellowed again, still trying to impale somebody with its blade. Thor leapt at it, swinging his hammer downwards and smashing the appendage to bits.

The monster stayed down, dazed and in pain.

"Now what?" Steve asked.

"Kill it dead", Bucky grunted. "Until it stays dead."

"I like the way you think", Tony grinned. Suddenly the alarm went off in his visor. "Uh guys..." the genius began. "The viral particles are sky-rocketing."

"Well, this thing IS a giant viral abomination."

"Not Redlight", Tony claimed. " _Blacklight_. And it's coming through...the _ground_?!" A second later, he realized what this meant. "EVERYBODY! JUMP!"

Black spikes broke through the ground all around them, impaling everything.

-oOo-

Heller cursed furiously. The lab was too small for him to avoid taking bullets to the suit, his chest plate was still missing and that stupid asshole of an Avenger was still useless on the ground.

Also, from the discharge earlier, his weapon systems were still offline. So all he could do was trying to whack the HYDRA guards into submission with blunt force. He smashed one man into the opposite wall and quickly disarmed him. However, he lost his newly-acquired rifle when he was hit with a rocket launched by one of the guys. Heller swore again, idly remembering that his wife told him to curb in this trait.

"GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!" He roared. "ZEUS! GET YOUR GERMY ASS IN GEAR! YA HEAR ME?! GET THE FUCK UP!" He grabbed a man and chucked him into the lab, hoping to knock him out on the wall.

The man easily took the blow like it was nothing, but when he took a step back towards the Sergeant, he froze and stared down.

He had stepped right _into_ the ribcage of the downed guy.

Tentacles erupted from Zeus's chest, impaling and consuming the man within seconds.

The Bioweapon rose back to his feet, eyes glowing unnaturally. He let out a wordless roar, jabbing his hands into the floor.

A long moment nothing happened.

And suddenly black spikes broke through the stones all around him. They erupted everywhere, impaling the men that were unlucky enough to be caught in their way. The Iron Patriot leapt against the ceiling to avoid them. From the shouting he heard on his communication, the spikes also grew where the others were. Zeus howled out again, back arched.

A second wave of spikes and tentacles broke from his back, shooting into every direction. When they hit the cave walls, they simply forced their way through them, continuing their deadly route through almost the whole HYDRA base.

Heller heard the others Avengers yell in shock when they nearly got themselves impaled by the attack. Mere seconds later and the Biomass began retreating again, leaving behind massive holes in the stone.

However, those tentacles that had impaled anything organic coiled and dragged the prey back, dissolving them as they retreated. Somewhere Heller heard a hollow crunching noise that sounded pretty similar to something being dragged through a few rock walls. Alex was still hunched over the floor and his arms were still embedded into the ground. A group of tendrils shot from his shoulder to where the others were.

" _Holy fuck!"_ Tony gasped through the link, _"He's eating the friggin Goliath! Holy fuck! He's eating a thing that has the size of a house!"_

There was another wordless roar before the tendrils began thrashing wildly, shattering more of the bedrock around them. Heller idly noticed that, perhaps, they should escape before the whole fucking mountain would drop on them.

Luckily, this also meant that they wouldn't need going back the way they came, since pretty much every barrier was broken down by now.

Zeus made a noise that sounded like a mixture between a yowl and retching. His mass churned wildly as it began rejecting the Nanobots the virus ingested.

"C'mon", the Sergeant yelled once Alex calmed down enough to actually pull his arms out of the floor. "Thanks to you, the whole mountain will collapse!"

"Kill everything", the virus snarled. A tentacle shot out, digging into Heller's visor.

" _Listen Stark"_ his disembodied voice growled into Heller's earpiece, _"Make some explosives ready. I want to blow this whole thing sky-high."_

" _Should I be worried?"_ Stark questioned. _"At any rate, your stunt just broke a shitload of vehicles and gas tanks. There's fuel everywhere and Bucky and Thor did discover the armory. I have planted a few charges already. Once we're out of here, we're gonna press the button."_

" _Good"_ Alex snarled _"Then we will get out of here."_ He started running.

-oOo-

The Avengers stood several miles away from the mountain the base was in. A part of its summit had already collapsed due to the excessive damage cause underground. "Let's go", Steve ordered as they walked into the Quinjet. The vehicle groaned under Alex' weight, but still it got airborne with no larger problems.

Once they had reached a sufficient height, Tony grinned. "Friday, would you kindly blow everything to Hell?"

"Of course, sir", the A.I. acknowledged.

A dull explosion reached their ears and everybody stared out of the still open hatch as the mountain shuddered and collapsed to only half its original height.

"Oh yeah", the genius grinned. "Science one, Mother Nature zero."


	13. Four months later

Four Months later

 _20_ _th_ _March, 2014, Avengers Tower_

Dana was humming to herself as she was working on some of the data encryptions the group had retrieved in that HYDRA base in November. There was nobody there to help her with the task, except for Friday. Tony had gone to Tokyo and had taken Pepper and Alex with him. Steve, Bucky and Sam were on Hawaii to help the local police enforcement with a smaller AIM base. Wanda, Pietro and Vision were with the Fantastic Four near Doomstadt to keep an eye on Victor van Doom. Natasha and Clint were currently in England, working with the MI6 to stop some bad guy organization (another head of HYDRA? Fury suspected as much). Thor was gone to Asgard to spend some time with his friends. Only Bruce had remained behind to keep her company, but sadly, he wasn't one who could work with computers very well. And HYDRA had used some high-level encryptions to hide their data. Without the goons' knowledge, even Alex had to do this in the old-fashioned way: hacking. Dana sighed and shut her eyes, massaging the back of her nose. They had gotten through the encryption about two and a half months ago, but there still was a lot of data to work on. She needed a break. Also she could check on the doctor to see how far he had come with the guy the Avengers had hauled back from Afghanistan.

"Hey, what's up, Doc?" the younger Mercer sibling asked breezily.

"Same old, same old", Banner replied with a little smile. "I'm working to keep calm as to not accidentally break the tower. Also, your friend isn't awake yet." He shrugged, pointing towards the figure and the monitors next to him. "Though, I can't really tell how his vitals are. With the sheer amount of technological and mechanical substitutes and implants all over his body, it is hard to find out what is actually _human_ and what is _machine_. I mean, technically, that guy doesn't even have a _heartbeat_."

Dana furrowed her brows. "But Tony is sure, right? He managed to remove everything that would have controlled his head?"

"Tony's a pro. He never messes up with something like that."

"Good", the young woman sighed. "Because it would be a real fucking shame if HYDRA fucked up a perfectly good guy just for their little Nazi games."

Bruce eyed her. "Alex never spoke about this man, not much anyways, yet he was quite adamant to remove the influence HYDRA had over him. Why?"

Dana shrugged. "Alex is loyal to his allies. And that guy there has helped him much back in 2008. He never showed it, but when he figured that this guy has been killed and impersonated by the fucked-up Hellspawn of himself and Greene, he was devastated." She exhaled slowly. "He was the sole reason Alex managed to rescue me from Greene, kill Greene and take out that nuke. We both owe him."

"What's his name?"

"Cross. Specialist Robert Cross. One badass Motherfucker, but fucking awesome enough to take on the whole of Blackwatch after figuring out they have created Redlight and- to an extent- Blacklight as well. For warfare, none the less."

 _12_ _th_ _November, 2013. The Quinjet had barely touched down on the deck of the Helicarrier (somewhat harder than normally) when Alex burst right out of the vehicle, shouting at the medic team to move their asses faster. It took Natasha, Clint and Steve a lot of time to persuade the virus to have himself checked for any traces of HYDRA's Nanobots while the Marines and the other Avengers were ushered to the decontamination chambers. A group of scientists took care of the still unconscious Super Winter Soldier. Hill had contacted them beforehand to let them know about this new development._

 _So when a group of engineers had thoroughly checked the agitated killer virus, Alex was out and on the way to the med bay a second later._

 _He was mildly surprised to see Tony already present. He was dragging a hand through his still damp hair as he checked some screens. The man they had found had been put in a clear tank. "Oh hi. I see you're back already. Did they find anything?"_

" _Only remains, nothing active anymore", was the answer._

" _We gotta work on this. We were lucky that discharging helped against these things, but we won't always have an ARK reactor around for you to fry yourself." The billionaire stated, "So you gotta figure out how to reject them."_

" _I think I just need to learn to create electricity myself... Tony, where do I find electric eels?"_

" _In South America, swimming around in the Amazon", the genius stated, "But you could also complement your seafood diet with electric catfish from the Nile and electric rays from the tropical seas." He arched an eyebrow at the virus. "But you didn't come here for discussing a change of eating habits with me."_

" _No?"_

" _Nope. For a guy who could make a fortune being an actor, you are seriously lacking in the acting department when you are yourself. I mean, it is bloody easy reading you. Since we blew up that mountain in Afghanistan and you noticed Mr. Freeze over there, you were anxious and kept hovering around him. And that tells me you know him. Who is he?"_

" _His name's Cross", Alex admitted. "And I owe him for what he did." He turned his eyes on the screen and fell silent while he took in the information that was listed there. "Fuck", he growled angrily. "What the Hell have they done to him?"_

 _Tony grimaced awkwardly. "Yeah, I've looked at this part too. And I'm glad we put him back on ice. I really don't want an uncontrollable HYDRA weapon running amok on the Helicarrier." He clicked his tongue as he pulled up a few images. "Basically, HYDRA fucked that guy up really bad. Nanomachines in the blood stream. Super Soldier reversion via Redlight. Metal constructions supporting spine and extremities. Both arms replaced with the same atrocities they fashioned on Bucky. Heart removed and replaced with a cheap ARK reactor. My soul breaks when I have to see it. However, taking the extent of the injuries he had before into account, I'd say it was about the only way to keep that guy alive."_

" _What about his brain?"_

" _Found some microchips here and there. Some are for working with the sensory upgrades, but there are some that are of the same make as the chips you found in the Hunters."_

" _Remove them", the virus growled. "Get them out of his head. Cross is a good man. He does not deserve being ordered around like a dog."_

That has been four months ago.

"Tony kept him frozen the whole time he removed HYDRA's influence and upgraded the tech. Since we got him out of the freezer just a little over a week ago, I say he might wake up soon", Bruce informed Dana. The young woman watched the captain on the cot. "I just hope he won't freak out."

-o-

 _24_ _th_ _March, 2014, Avengers Tower_

Dana grinned when she found a post card from Alex in the mail. For some reason her brother had somehow picked up the habit of sending cards from every place he's been to for her to pin on her wall. Now in the Avengers Tower, Dana's souvenir wall was much larger and the others helped with decorating it. She walked back to her lab, passing by the med wing when she stopped dead in her tracks and stared through the glass walls.

The man on the medical bed was twitching slightly.

When Dana entered the room, Cross was in the process of waking up, groaning in pain.

"Bruce, you should get down here", the young woman reported into the Tower communication, "He's waking up. I repeat: Your presence is required." Then she was at the Specialist's side. "Easy there, don't overexert yourself."

The man blinked at her, a flash of recognition running over his face. "You...you're Zeus' sister, aren't you?" He asked, stopping when he realized how rough his own voice sounded.

"I am and you don't need to worry. Nobody of us is going to harm you", Dana stated as she adjusted the upper part of the bed to help the Specialist sit a bit more upright. Then she grabbed a cup of water and held it in front of him. Cross slowly reached for it, but instantly froze in his movement when his gaze fell on his hand. There was smooth black metal instead of scarred flesh. "What the fuck?" He mumbled, twisting and rotating the metal appendage and stretching the fingers. "What the actual fuck?" Cross furrowed his brows and turned to Dana. The young woman had her hands up in an 'I-didn't-do-it'-gesture. "Don't look at me. We found you that way in a deep-freezer."

"Deep Freezer?!" The captain tilted his head. He was taking it really well, Dana noticed, so she added a few more information. "Yeah. Alex and the guys- they found you in a seedy hideout, frozen and patched up with a shitload of metal."

Cross growled and sunk back against the bed, glaring at the ceiling. "Fucking Randall", he spat, "I fucking told you I'm not gonna be part of your fucking Robocop shit."

"You knew about the augmentations?" Cross and Dana both turned to see a brown-haired man in a purple shirt walk in. "Bruce Banner", the man supplied helpfully, "I'm the guy who kept an eye on you." He eyed the specialist. "You just swore about a guy called Randall. What's the story behind that?"

"Fucking techs figured out another way to make their D-Codes", Cross supplied, "Pump them full of Nanobots and strap as many weapons on them as fucking possible. Makes their brain leak outta their ears, so I told Randall I'm not gonna be part of this shit. Having my men pumped full of this fucking virus _we were trying to kill_ was already pushing it." He paused and glared at Banner. "But you're not Blackwatch. And these things-" He waved the metal arm a bit, "-They don't look like Blackwatch tech either- too streamlined and efficient."

"Actually", Bruce nodded towards a set of limbs across of the room, "Those were what have been fashioned to your body when we found you. Not in a Blackwatch Base, but rather in the hideout of a terrorist group called HYDRA. You have Stark Tech at the moment."

"Stark?" Cross frowned unhappily. "That Playboy with the weapons? Since when does he work in the robotics unit?"

"For a few years, actually", Dana informed him. "Now this may come as a shock to you, but Randall died in that outbreak of 2008. Alex thought _you_ died back there and that was almost six years ago. Blackwatch has been dismantled."

There was a long pause. "Six years", Cross deadpanned. "The whole shit went down six years ago. Blackwatch's dead. I was frozen. And when I wake up I'm the fucking Terminator, build up by some fucking Terrorists."

"That's...kind of the gist of it."

"Fucking wonderful. I need a drink. Now. One that knocks me out long enough until I can deal with that shit."

"You are taking this really well", Bruce commented with a small grin. "I guess I would have freaked out."

"Trust me, Doctor Banner. I will start flipping my shit once I get my damn drink."

Dana smiled awkwardly. "Well, look at it this way: You did get some awesome robot arms and you are no longer brainwashed by HYDRA. Do you know this saying: When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade?"

Cross glared at her deadpan. "Tell life I don't want its damn lemons."

-oOo-

 _Somewhere in some East European Country_

"And this...this is the normal course of action?" Clint Barton asked with an arched eyebrow. "I mean, we found the bad guys, they had us play their little game and now we sit here, tied together and are about to be maimed and/or tortured horribly before we are being killed."

"Normally I manage to escape in the last moment and escape the base the second everything around me blows up", the British MI6 Agent shrugged.

"It's a complete waste of time", Natasha Romanoff grumbled, eyes trained on the sleazy bad guy standing a few yards away from them and ranting on about his superior plan for World Domination. She furrowed her brows and eyed her two companions' suits and her own cocktail dress. "And why the Hell does he has a dress in my size sitting around in a base full of _guys_?"

"That's a mystery I am still aiming to solve", the British Agent claimed.

The bad guy, some sleaze ball called Goldfinger, had already stopped ranting about his grand scheme for destroying the world's gold reserve. Instead, he glared darkly at the three agents.

"Mr. Bond", he began with an annoyed tone in his voice. "I was hoping you would have a better control over your partners. And yet, here you are, doing petty small-talk to them while completely ignoring the massive amount of effort it took to finalize my plan."

"It is crap anyways", Barton claimed. "Also, we were kind of wondering where you got a dress in Nate's size."

"And we are not his partners. His boss called our boss and requested our assistance for keeping James here out of trouble and on the track", Natasha added.

"I really am not to blame for them", Bond finished. "I have no control over their actions. If it was just me, you could have put me on a table and had a laser slowly threaten to cut me in halves."

"Why not simply shoot us in the head and call it a day?" Barton questioned.

"This is too barbaric", Goldfinger sighed. "Too plebian. No skill. No drama."

"Your funeral", Clint shrugged. Like on signal, he and Natasha suddenly kicked the ground hard, succeeding in toppling the three bolted-together dentist chairs they were in to the ground. Goldfinger's men dashed to the front, but the Black Widow had her legs free and kicked the first guy hard in the jaw, breaking it and sending him stumbling to the ground. The fallen chairs had freed Barton's hands, so he had the second guy in a headlock a moment later.

Ten whole seconds later and the three agents had completely freed themselves. Natasha somersaulted at another goon, wrapped her legs tightly around his throat and crushed him into the floor. Bond dove aside, grabbing Barton's bow off a fourth henchman and chucked it to the archer. Just as Clint was about to shoot, the whole front of the building exploded. Through the dust and rubble stepped a group of SHIELD Agents.

"You are under arrest", Coulson stated, waving his giant gun at Goldfinger. "For pissing me off. And Mr. Goldfinger? I would comply if I were you. I used this gun on a God, shot him right through a wall."

"We had the situation under control", Natasha grumbled.

"You had", Coulson shrugged, "But it appears that something else came up. Director Fury requested your presence in the Avengers Tower." He paused for a moment. "Agent Romanoff? The dress suits you very well."

-oOo-

 _Hawaii, O'ahu, Outside of Honolulu_

Bucky growled unhappily as he glared at the setting sun. He now remembered why he avoided Hawaii.

It was too humid. Way too humid and hot. Having been frozen for quite some time lowered his tolerance even more.

But Bucky was also the Winter Soldier, a member of the Avengers and badass warrior. There was no way he'd let some climate control him.

So he held on to the hope that he soon gets to beat up AIM thugs as a way to vent his frustration.

Steve was leaned over a table with a map on it, discussing with the head of the local Special Forces. A third man was with them, the leader of the Hawaii Five-O Team that discovered the hideout right in the outskirts of Honolulu. The man's name was Steve too, Steve McGarrett.

McGarrett's team was in a corner, listening intently to their boss's explanations. Well, one man and a woman were (both locals, Bucky noted), but the guy wearing the only tie in the room only stared at Steve with sparkles in his eyes. Detective Williams, his name was.

"What is this AIM anyways?" The Hawaiian man, Chin Ho Kelly, wanted to know.

"They started out as a think tank", Captain America explained. "At least that is what the public got to hear. In truth, AIM was the one behind the Mandarin."

The present crowd sucked in their breath. "The Mandarin?" McGarrett questioned, "That was the one responsible for the suicide bombings of 2010. Tony Stark ended his schemes and rescued the President on Christmas, if I'm not mistaken."

"Doesn't mean AIM is dead", Sam threw in, "But they concentrate on virtual crimes on the moment, until they have enough funds to play with the big guys."

"At any rate, we are here to help you take them out", Steve told them, "It's your case and we are just reinforcements."

"Well, then I guess I get to order you guys around, huh?" McGarrett grinned. "Okay. Falcon, you keep the area under watch."

Sam nodded, saluting. "Yes sir."

"Kono, you and the Winter Soldier, you are our eyes on the roof across. You and the snipers of the SWAT team have our back."

"Sure", Bucky shrugged. At least there would be a cool breeze on the roof.

"Captain", McGarrett turned to Steve. "You and I take the largest group of the SWAT with us. Go in through the front, draw their attention. Chin, you and Danny take a few of the others and go in through the back. Any questions?"

"Can I get an autograph when this is over?" Danny asked. Steve smiled. "Sure, Detective Williams, "But first, let's finish this."

-o-

The teams were in position. The last order that came through the communication was to get ready. The anticipation was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

"On three", McGarrett whispered, lifting his hand to count down. Steve nodded grimly.

" _Uh guys..."_ Sam's voice came through the communicator. _"Did the forecast warn us about a Typhoon lately?"_

"Typhoon?" McGarrett wondered, "Wilson, this is no reason for ignoring the communication silence!"

" _I think it is"_ , the Falcon replied, _"Because this looks really bad."_

" _It does"_ , Bucky threw in, _"You might wanna look up."_

Everybody directed their eyes skywards were Wilson was circling. Giant black clouds had gathered above them, swirling ominously around. Steve paled. "Sam!" He shouted, "Get to safe ground! Now!"

" _Don't have to tell me twice"_ , Wilson acknowledged. _"WHOA!"_ He barely rolled left to avoid a mighty beam of light that broke through the sky. It hit the ground just in front of the building AIM was hiding inside. The next moment, the beam disappeared, leaving behind only a strange pattern in the ground and a single man garbed in armor with a red cape.

" _THOR?!"_ Sam and Kono both exclaimed in surprise.

The Thunder God lifted his hammer, calling forth a mighty thunderstorm. Then he directed it all down at the building. Lightning erupted from the sky in sheets, hitting the AIM base. The following thunder nearly busted the crowd's eardrums and shattered windows around them. Barely a few moments later and the AIM members fled the building in fear that it might collapse, but a second thunder strike knocked them off their feet.

The Hawaii Special Forces only had to pick them up.

"Thor?!" Steve was the first one to walk up to the Asgardian who stood amidst the chaos he created. "I thought you'd stay with your family a bit longer?"

"I wished to do so", Thor replied, "But the Director requested for my presence."

"...Do we have a line to Asgard now?"

"Nay, but Heimdall can see and hear everything within the nine worlds. He called for me, telling me about the Director's orders." He nodded towards McGarrett. "Heimdall also told me about the plan you wrought to defeat AIM. As the director's orders sounded urgent, I made haste to finish your work. I can only assume that your presence is also required, Captain Rogers."

" _He's right"_ , Bucky suddenly threw in. _"I just got a call from Nate. Fury wants us to move our asses back to the tower. Preferably yesterday."_

Steve sighed. "Sorry that it had to end this way, Commander McGarrett", he apologized, "I really hoped we could have worked on this together."

"Well", McGarrett replied, "Witnessing a God take out a base in mere _seconds_ is pretty awesome too."

"It's just a shame we didn't get to try your friend's seafood specials", Sam lamented.

"There's always another time", Steve shrugged. "We're coming back, and then we'll have Tony pay up for us."

-oOo-

 _Washington, D.C._

Colette Heller threw a nervous glance to the side while holding her daughter Amaya's hand a bit firmer. She really wasn't used to crowds like that.

Actually, Colette was fine with crowds. She loved the mall when she and her family went out, she loved being in the middle of life.

But this kind of crowds made her really anxious.

Mostly because all of them were dressed in military garbs. Only Colette and Amaya weren't. Colette was wearing this nice red dress she wore only on special occasions (which Jim really loved) and Amaya was wearing her favorite white dress, the one with the big red bow tie at the waist.

"Mommy? Where is daddy?" Amaya asked, looking around.

"He said he'd be here soon, honey", Colette replied. On the inside she wondered about her husband's antics. He said he had a surprise for them, but they had to be in their best outfits. Then he had left suddenly, leaving his spouse and daughter in the care of two of his men.

Colette glanced at the two who had positioned themselves on either side of them. They noticed her and nodded firmly, with a small grin on their faces.

The others of her husband's squad were there too. They did form a sort of shield around her and her daughter and the other military guys. Colette found this to be very thoughtful. She had met these soldiers a few times, the first time when her husband returned from Afghanistan four months ago. They had a little dinner with them to remember some of those who fell in the line of duty.

The crowd went stiff all of a sudden, boots clanking together at once, startling Amaya. Colette pulled her against her legs with both her hands on her shoulders.

"Mommy? Who is that man there?" The little girl asked. Colette arched her eyebrows, watching four black-suited men walk on the grandstand. An older man was amongst them and suddenly Mrs. Heller felt her jaw drop. That was the President. How in the World did Jim get so close to the President that he could show up on the 'Surprise' he mentioned?

The President cleared his throat and walked up to the lectern, tapping the microphone. "I'm honored to present to you a new ally", the man began, "A man who was already working for the safety of the United States of America, but now, he has been given a chance to help the entire World." He cleared his throat again and took a step aside. "I think it would be better to let someone else do this. Colonel James Rhodes."

Rhodey sauntered in, smiling at the crowd before turning to shake hands with the President. Then he turned towards the mics and cleared his throat.

"Just as Mr. President said, I am honored to be here today. To introduce to you one of my dearest friends who is going to be the second member of the United States' Special one-man Forces: The War Machine Project." He chuckled a bit. "Now 'War Machine' used to be _my_ name until some guys decided that 'Iron Patriot' would sound better. Uh, nothing against you, but I really preferred the old name."

A few soldiers chuckled.

"Now, you might ask yourself 'How does one become a new War Machine?'. Well, the answer is simple: You have to be 'Badass' in Tony Stark's book."

Now a few more people laughed. Rhodey grinned and continued. "And Tony decided that our new War Machine was badass enough to get his own suit of armor. After all, he rescued a group of marines from certain doom _and_ helped the Avengers taking down a dangerous group of terrorists after kicking me out of my own suit. I guess Tony decided he was worthy to keep it, but I'd like to say differently. I _love_ this suit and I will not give it up. So Tony build him a new one." He turned a bit. "Now, Ladies and Gentlemen: I'd like you to meet our new War Machine: Staff Sergeant James Heller!"

Now Colette's jaw really dropped open as her husband marched on stage, looking seriously unnerved by all the people around him. Still, he kept a brave face and waved at the crowd, beaming at his wife and daughter.

So that was his surprise. He was going to fight alongside the Avengers.

"Sergeant Heller", the president began, shaking the man's hand. "I hereby welcome you into our new War Machine program. With your help, we will be able to keep the enemy off American soil for a while longer."

"Thank you, Mr. President", Heller replied a bit stiffly. A grin appeared on his face. "Though, to say the truth, I'm mainly doing this for the suit. It's awesome."

The soldiers whooped enthusiastically. "And I'm also doing this for my men. I just wish that we weren't stuck in so many wars that the War Machine Project is necessary. But I promise you, nothing's gonna stop me from taking out the guys responsible for this."

The crowd exploded in a wild cheering while Colette just stood there clapping, with tears in her eyes. There has never been a time she had been more proud of her husband than now. She frowned when a guy in suit suddenly approached Jim and Rhodey talking in a hushed voice. Both men turned to glare, then followed the man off the stage. James turned and threw her a look that was something between apology and desperation.

Something has happened. Something big.

-oOo-

 _Tokyo_

Night never comes in Tokyo. The sky is perpetually brightened by all the lights of the city beneath. To Alex, Tokyo is like the love child between New York City and Las Vegas. Still, there are times in which the city is less busy. Times like that are classified as 'night time'.

And this was when Alex was hunting best.

His enhanced senses allowed him to easily track his prey. She was injured and terrified, but years of training had hardened her spirit. She was made for survival.

Alex grinned. He _loved_ prey that offered him a rare chance to improve his stalking skills. Most people he hunted either charged him head-on or ran and hid. It was easy cutting through their ranks, but this lady, she was different.

The whole thing had begun when Tony opened his Technology Fair in Tokyo last week. Somebody he must have pissed off had sicced assassins on his ass. Alex had easily prevented the assassination attempt and hunted down the pair of snipers that tried to kill the genius.

That was when things started to become weird.

As it stood, the assassins were members of an Organization, another head of the HYDRA that used alcoholic beverages for code names, but other than that was balls-deep in secrecy. Many members did not even know the real name of their partners. But they did know a lot of their hideouts and plans, so in the end it was easy for Alex to attack and consume a large number of their agents. Within only one week, he managed to greatly disassemble another head of HYDRA all on his own, while every larger investigative group- from the Japanese Special Forces to the FBI and CIA- had troubles pinning them down. But then again, they didn't have his abilities to assimilate people and knowledge alike.

Best vacation ever, he thought as he sat on a roof, watching his prey's apartment complex. He knew the blonde woman was there and frankly, she did interest him. Mostly because she was able to imitate the voices of about anybody and was quite easily able to assume their identities for a longer period of time. Maybe a mutant power? Alex never had mutants before (at least not that he knew of).

Before he could continue, his cell phone rang. He arched a brow, knowing perfectly well that Pepper slept and Tony knew better than disturbing his hunt.

The number was Dana's so Alex answered quickly.

"Hi Dana"

" _Hi Alex"_ , his sister greeted back. She paused a moment. _"It must be around 4 a.m. over in Tokyo, right? Am I interrupting your lunch time?"_

"Not really", the virus replied, "I'm just watching her. Tasty looking piece of ass, I tell you."

" _Okay, if somebody would listen to you, they would think you're talking about porn or something."_

"Could be. I figured that lady is an actor. And works for HYDRA. But you wouldn't call just for getting my dinner plans."

" _Cross woke up two hours ago."_

Alex arched his brows. "How is he?"

" _Pissed, but not overly so."_

"Really? I know I _would_ be pissed when I woke up as Robocop."

" _He was quite happy to share some information"_ , the younger sibling explained, _"Blackwatch always had the plans of making a technological version of the D-Codes. Those that can be controlled easier and are harder to ingest for infected."_

"Is he- you know- nuts?"

" _As far I can tell- no. But then again, it IS Cross. That guy took YOU head-on inside an infected Hive, so he must have had a case of brain damage already."_

Alex chuckled softly, keeping the window in his line of vision. He did injure the woman before, having gained her genetic code to track down everywhere. "Yeah, I guess so."

There was an angry voice in the background. Dana giggled. _"Now he's asking for lemons to burn down somebody's house."_ She turned serious again. _"But Fury told me to get you back to the tower. It looks like there is something weird going on."_

Alex sighed. "Alright. I'll finish this and return to the hotel. It's getting day anyways."

" _See you soon"_

"Bye"

He put the phone back into his pocket and crouched low, coiling the mass in his legs. With one powerful leap, he crossed the distance between the roof he was on and the woman's apartment, crushing through the window like a living meteor. The ground caved beneath his weight as he landed, claws formed in an instant. Alex had activated his thermal vision, allowing him to see a figure at the other end of the room. He could smell her blood, her DNA all around the apartment. With a nightmarish grin, he charged up his claws. One of the things he learned was how to create his own electricity, but as he discovered, he was unable to shock somebody over a distance. He could not shoot lightning bolts like Thor, but it was enough to simply touch some form of conductor or grab his prey directly to stun it. Also, he figured that a strong enough discharge deactivated any Nanobots or brain bombs easily, allowing him to retain the memories of his victims.

He noticed the woman flinch back and groan.

Alex grinned, moving closer with several tendrils running across his frame. With his form being illuminated by the weak lightning from outside, he must have looked like a creature from a nightmare. He heard the woman force some muffled shrieks and stopped in his tracks. The smell...she smelled like the blonde woman he chased, but she also smelled differently. He narrowed his eyes, switching out of the Thermal vision and picked the night vision. It wasn't enough to see colors, but with his enhanced senses he could easily identify shapes, people and strong contrasts, allowing him to even read in near complete darkness (as long the font was large enough).

He froze, realizing that the woman in front of him was _not_ who he hunted before.

She was shorter, had dark hair and was tied up and gagged. She must have been here quite some time already to get used to the dark, as she looked directly at him. She stared at him with panic-filled eyes, seemingly pleading from beneath the cloth that blocked her mouth. A CIA ID was next to her head, pinned with a knife to the drywall.

The woman was covered in blood and for the first time Alex noted that it also smelled of stabilizers. Sly vixen, the virus thought amused. She had stored enough of her own blood to cover somebody else's smell with her own, to create bait for him to go after. The bitch most likely escaped already.

He huffed out, crouching in front of the terrified hostage. "Okay", he said in flawless Japanese. "I am going to free you now. Do not scream or I will kill you, understood?"

She nodded jerkily. Despite her panic, she was keeping it well together. "Best thing would be, you call the police once you are free", he told her. "You can tell them it was Zeus who freed you." He sliced the gag off and easily shredded the bonds. The woman coughed and groaned, but still manages to throw a thin 'Thank you' at him.

He didn't bother with her any further as he simply turned and walked towards the broken window to leave. He threw one last look across the room. There were still a lot of things around, but anything personal had been removed. Truly a sly bitch. She managed to escape him within the time she managed to lose him in Tokyo and he found her apartment. Fast and efficient. Alex really wanted nothing more than to search through the city to find her again, to consume her and learn of her skills. Alas he had no time. He had to get back to Tony and return with him to New York.

He would find her again. Now that he knew her smell, she wouldn't be able to hide anywhere in the world.

He jumped out into the night.

* * *

 **Author: Kind of a filler episode to lead over to the last part. But I also added a bit of my Headcanon to it, seeing as I put in some cameos/crossovers as well. Let's see if you can find out what the last Cameo is. I tell you right now, the lady Alex was hunting is NOT an OC or the like. She's just acting as I believe she would.  
**

 **Notes:**

 **Cross: I'm pretty sure a few of you are going to hate me for including Cross in this. But I tell you right now: It is my story, so I can do whatever I want. Also, I was kind of pissed when they killed the _dude that flipping fought Alex inside a Hive_ off just of-screen. They should have at least made some sort of cliff-hanger. But the only hint we got was Cross from the sight of some of the infected, where he appeared white-glowing (so already the Supreme Hunter).**

 **Blackwatch/HYDRA Super Solider: I assume that Blackwatch's original purpose was to create Super Soldiers. At least this is what I think from the information that the first Redlight infection in chimpanzees caused the apes to become stronger, faster and smarter. They build Hope just for trying to ceplicate the same effect in humans, so they were trying to make Super Soldiers. This is why I also think that they are HYDRA. Blackwatch was founded in 1962, a time where HYDRA was dead in Germany, but alive and well in America. They were just looking for another way to replicate the Super Soldier Serum and/or find other possibilities to upgrade their Winter Soldier program. Plus, the idea of Nano Machines inside the body to have different effects is pretty old, so I combined it. When you can put machines in a man to make him stronger, why not make more of it to build your own cyborg? So Randall wanted to make technological versions of his D-Codes (makes them easier to control and it's not as hypocrite as pumping your soldiers full of the very virus you are trying to get rid off) while NOT knowing why they were making Super Soldiers in the first place.**

 **Heller: Oh wow. I would never have believed you took the idea of adding Heller into my fanfic so well. I'm glad you don't hate the fic for it.**


	14. A new mission

A new Mission

 _26_ _th_ _March 2014, 11 a.m., Avengers Tower_

When Alex and Tony returned from the airport, they found the other Avengers already present in the briefing room. Heller was on the phone, talking to his wife, lamenting about the fact that SHIELD had kept him inside the tower without telling him what was going on.

"Alex!" Dana shouted, throwing herself at her brother and hugging him tightly. Alex did return the gesture, but kept an eye on the other occupants of the room. He was not so surprised to see the Fantastic Four amongst their group (with Johnny Storm being more or less hyped that he looked like a younger version of Steve), but he was quite astonished to see Cross himself sitting at the table, scowling at the group of heroes. His eyes narrowed when he saw the virus.

"Mercer", he grumbled as a sort of greeting. "Mind telling me what exactly happened six years ago? I'm still at loss- one moment I'm going with my squad into a Hive, the next I wake up as Terminator."

"I have no idea either", Alex replied, slipping into the chair next to the Specialist. "All I figured was that the Supreme Hunter must have killed you, consumed you and assumed your shape. Then the Hunter and I hunted down Taggart and killed Randall before the Hunter turned on me, trying to kill and consume me. I can only guess that it was enough for it to just take a bite out of you to gain your shape. But I'm still at loss as to how it managed to replicate your memories without having eaten your brain."

Cross mumbled "Still, doesn't explain what happened to me."

"According to the data", Dana threw in, "You died that day. Blackwatch or HYDRA retrieved your body and did something to bring you back. Technically, you've been near-dead for six years."

"Joy" The specialist growled and watched the other Avengers. "Avengers, huh? I've been told about your little group", he began, "Doctor Banner was quite informative."

"Don't tell me you want to be an Avenger too?"

"Fat chance. No, I want Blackwatch back."

"Blackwatch is dead", Alex snapped, "The Government shot it down."

"But your SHIELD Director has contacts", Cross gave back, "And whether you like it or not- you need a unit that can take on infections like the one in Manhattan. Blackwatch was the best."

"That is the main reason I did not have Agent Romanoff and Barton escort you back to your quarters and tie you the fuck down. We need your knowledge with infections." Everybody turned to see Director Fury stand in the doorway, face set in a deep scowl. "Congratulations on driving HYDRA in a corner", he snapped, "Now they fucked shit up."

"How?" Steve wanted to know.

"They released Redlight", the Director stated bluntly, shocking the Avengers into silence.

"That's impossible", Alex snarled, "Elizabeth Greene is dead! The source for Redlight is gone!" Suddenly he stopped, eyes wide as dozens of memories supplied one name to his mind. "Unless...Pariah..."

"Fucking Hell", Cross groaned. "Pariah's still out there? Who in their right mind keeps a thing _alive_ that could _destroy all life on the planet_?!"

"Blackwatch, apparently", Dana deadpanned.

"What is a Pariah?" Bucky asked.

"Just some sort of Blacklight's big brother", Alex growled, "Less deadly, but much more devastating."

"And it has been released in Majorca", Fury snapped. "The first Hive has formed on the Puig Major military base. Since then it has been rapidly spreading. As we speak, the Spanish military and the United Armed forces are trying to stop it to evacuate the people of Bunyola, Binissalem, Sa Pobla and Pollenca. Every town and city in-between has been overtaken by Redlight already."

"Wait", Reed noted, "When did the first Hive appear?"

"March 24th", Fury explained, "Two days ago. Redlight had already spread in a diameter of fifteen kilometers, and that was greatly unpopulated, hard-to reach mountainous terrain. We do not want it to reach the heavier populated flat area of the island. Because once it does, we'd have to deal with nearly a million of infected individuals." He narrowed his eyes, "This Redlight does not kill. At all. It infects and mutates only, but that makes it way more dangerous. The infected themselves harvest organic life forms for breeding." He slammed a file on the table. "It is the job of the Avengers to curb in the infection and get out as many people as possible, or, if possible, stop the infection completely and burn out the source for Redlight."

"And that's my job", Cross threw in, "When somebody knows how to stop this bullshit, then it's me." He pointed at the Avengers. "Time is crucial here. The shit is in full swing. This Red Zone has already reached a size that is easily eight times the size of all of Manhattan, and that within two days. This infection spreads fast, and this _before_ it reaches easy-to-cover territory with lots of people. Majorca is big, so any stragglers can easily escape and re-start a new infection somewhere else. The most important thing is to contain it, no matter what happens. The only advantages we have is that there are only half as many people on the Island than there were in Manhattan and there is less cover."

"Then let's not dawdle any longer", Steve decided. "Make the necessary preparations now. We will decide on a tactical side once we are on the route to Majorca."

The team was out of their chairs in an instant. "We need Bloodtox and heavy equipment", Tony ticked off his fingers. "I can activate the House Party Protocol to help stop the infection."

"I'll have SHIELD stock up their decontamination equipment", Fury growled, "Mobile units for the field, so we can act faster."

He folded his arms behind his back and glared at the team. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are going to war."


	15. Welcome to the Blood Forest

Welcome to the Blood Forest

Bad news reached the Avengers as they were inside the Quinjet, racing towards Majorca: The infection had spread further, taking up the whole North of the Island, swallowing the cities of Sa Pobla, Alcúdia and Pollenca and having sprawled to the coast. The Army was desperate. They had blown up every bridge and tried to barricade the overland routes between the many river systems. As it was, only fire and water managed to keep Redlight away for the moment.

Cross had a map in front of him, explaining to the Avengers in detail about the best course of action. He did not allow any argument to sprout, brushing off even Steve's objections.

Tony had taken the House party suits, as well as Iron Patriot and War Machine with him, since they were the fastest. They were the first to arrive on scene. _"Holy fucking Fuck"_ , Heller swore through the Communication. _"This is really bad."_

" _I agree"_ , Rhodey mumbled. _"Tony, please tell me you installed flamethrowers in the suits."_

" _Just War Machine"_ , the billionaire claimed. _"Rhodey, you and I blast a trench across the main street and circle around the north end of the town. Make it end with the small river in the north-west. Heller, you set all of the trees and bushes on fire. With our ditch we should be able to get the fire under control to keep the red stuff away from the town. Got it?"_

" _Roger"_

The Quinjet touched down near the town of Bunyola, just next to the mentioned river. The Avengers were out in an instant, watching the four dozen or so Ironman suits shoot through the sky, controlled by the seven artificial Intelligences Tony created as a backup to JARVIS.

A group of Soldiers came up to them. All looked mangled and exhausted.

"The civilians have been evacuated further South", the general claimed, "But these things- we can barely stop them."

"That's what we are here for", Captain America stated. "Your men did a very good job here."

"What are those monsters anyways?"

"Infected", Cross stated. "They _used_ to be human, but are now nothing more than slavering beasts. We have to stop them here or else they will overrun the Island."

"What are we supposed to do?"

Steve put the map on a table, pointing to their position. "We agreed to create a perimeter." He traced a red line with his finger. "This here is the border to the 'Red Zone', the heaviest infected Zone. Everything inside will kill or infect unprotected people in an instant."

"Sir, that's about on third of Majorca!"

"It is", Cross growled. "Goes all the way from Valldemossa to Santa Maria over to Llubí and Muro to the coast. This far the infection has spread already. If we don't stop it, it will swallow up the whole island."

He growled, folded his arms behind his back and glared at the Avengers and the Soldiers. "Now listen closely, because I will only explain it once. This red line is the only line we have to hold. Nothing gets over it, even if you have to burn yourselves. This line is all that is between victory and demise, got it?" He jabbed a finger at Johnny Storm. "Torch", he snapped. "You are going to patrol this line, burn everything in a thirty-yard radius behind it. I don't fucking care if you need a breather or something, because you won't be getting any break until this is cleared."

He glared at Pietro. "Silver, you help him. Run along the borders. You are our eyes on the ground. Falcon. Same goes for you. Keep an eye on the ground from above. Stark! Got all that?"

" _Yeah, I did."_

"Good. We need a trench the whole way to stop these damn sons of a bitch. Can you do that?"

" _No problem there."_

"We also need your suits in the air. Light up anything that crawls out of the Red Zone."

"What about us?" Steve asked.

"You guys scatter along the Red Line. Take the Army with you. Nothing goes in, nothing comes out."

He scowled at the setting sun. "Once we have cleared the borders, we can try to push the infection back- one step at a time and slowly going from the outside to the center. Containment is the first step. I'm not gonna lie, but this night is going to be the worst of your entire life."

"You seriously know how to motivate your troops", Bucky grumbled darkly.

"Suck it up, Barnes."

"Stark", Alex queried, "How bad is the infection?"

" _Worse than Manhattan, that's for sure"_ , the genius replied. _"Because it looks like Redlight has found a way to infect and alter everything, not only people. Grass, trees...everything's red and mutated."_ He paused and added a moment later: _"There are fucking_ _ **eyes**_ _in the trees."_

"Oh yuck", Johnny groaned. Alex narrowed his eyes. "Eyes...that means that Pariah can see us. Fucking Hell."

"Fucker evolved way more than its dear mommy", Cross snorted. "Best is just to kill it off fast."

"This could also work to our advantage", Steve noted, "If we keep Pariah busy on the front, a group of us can go in and attack it directly. It is possible we can go undetected or at least greatly ignored when Pariah is trying to increase its influence."

"I volunteer", Thor suddenly spoke up. "Even if you say that you'll require my powers for keeping the fiends at bay, I rather take the battle to their master."

"Besides", Bucky shrugged, "We have enough big guns here and Thor's right. When Pariah is just as strong as Mercer, we're better off with Thor trying to curb stomp it."

To their surprise, Cross nodded. "Fine. Thunderhead, you try to reach the Puig Major base. Take Zeus and the big green guy with you. I doubt they'll be any good on our team."

"I go too", Steve decided. "I want to stop Redlight just as much as you want. I promise I keep out of the really dangerous stuff."

The Specialist furrowed his brows, but then his shoulders sagged. "Fine, do what you want. We don't have any time to argue anyways. However, Rogers? When you turn into a fucking Hunter, I'm the first to shoot you in the head, got it?"

"I wouldn't expect anything less", Steve grinned. He quickly slipped on his gas mask and nodded to his companions. Thor and Alex both replied with a similar gesture while Bruce sauntered off to change into his big and angry alter-ego.

Not even five minutes later and they jumped over the barricades near a less afflicted area and ran off into the spreading infection. They just hoped they could reach the heart of the outbreak without Pariah noticing them.

-OoOoO-

It was past midnight. The sky had darkened because of the smoke from the burnt land. The only illumination they had were the perpetual fires burning away anything that tried to crawl past the Red Line. Setting up the boundaries of the red zone had been a harrowing task, but the Torch and the Iron Man suits had made great progress.

As it stood, the Avengers had, in combination with the Spanish and United Forces, managed to combat Redlight to a stand still.

It was incredible how fast the Biomass grew back. Often it came back within half an hour after the fires faded, forcing the Human Torch to feed the flames constantly.

Cross knew that the infected were watching them. He could literally sense them- just another perk of being not-quite human anymore. With a dry smirk he noted that he only _thought_ he should be exhausted, but he wasn't. Maybe this whole augmentation crap actually had more advantages than he thought.

" _Heads up!"_ Falcon shouted into his Communication, _"Big ugly monster coming through!"_

The Marines around the Specialist swore, guns whipping around as they heard the uncanny roar of a Leader Hunter. Cross narrowed his eyes. Pariah was getting desperate enough to attack. It wanted to take over Bunyola, as it was the town closest to the Red Zone.

"Get Ready!" Cross shouted, Stun Baton flickering to life. Three seconds later the Leader Hunter leapt right through the fire and over the trench, landing in front of the soldiers with a snarl.

 _Contact with the enemy._

Cross blinked. Was there a voice inside his head?

The Leader Hunter singled the Specialist out, charging him with its overwhelming mass and power.

 _Enemy regarded as danger. Initiate self-defense._

What the fuck?!

Cross dodged a swipe easily, suddenly wrapping his arms around the Leader Hunter's talon and more or less effortlessly flung it over his shoulder into the ground.

Fucking Robocop improvements.

 _Threat still active._

"Will you stop talking already?!" The specialist growled even as he took a step towards the infected.

 _Initiate Infected Vision_

What? No! Suddenly the world turned into dull red and orange colors with only the Leader Hunter glowing a brilliant orange-white. In the background were more white dots. Dozens, maybe hundreds of more infected. Hunters and other atrocities alike. As far as Cross could see, almost everything beyond the Red Line was white. Luckily, there was nothing white on their side.

Except for the Leader Hunter.

So the Specialist stalked over to it, kicked it harsh into the ribs to roll it over and slammed his arm deep into the maw at the back of its head. The teeth clapped together, trying to bite the offending limb off, but they harmlessly scraped along the black metal.

"Now listen here you piece of shit", Cross snapped, twisting his arm a bit deeper to break through the palate of the creature. "I want you fucking piece of shit out of my sight. If not, then I will fucking kill all of you, did you get that?!"

" _You're not my brother"_ Cross blinked. Now this was a different voice to the one he heard before. _"You're a bad person!"_ The voice shouted. In the same instance, the Hunter began to buck beneath the Specialist, snarling enraged. A quick glance to the border showed him that the others became agitated as well. A chorus of roars and snarls drifted over to him.

Oh. Cross arched an eyebrow and grabbed the Hunter's head with his second hand, allowing the augmentations to take over. With a single twist, he ripped off the creature's skull and flung it away and into the fires burning beyond the line. The Leader Hunter twitched for a few long seconds before finally dieing.

"Stark", Cross growled into his COM, "When this is over I want you to take a look at my brain. I don't want anybody telling me what to do."

" _Uh...sure"_ , the genius replied, _"You might wanna get cover, because there is a bunch of Zombies shambling over to your position."_

"I know. I think I just pissed off Pariah."

" _WHAT?!"_

Cross cracked his neck and glared at the infected that began to approach him. "You want a piece of me? Come and try it, fuckers!"

-oOo-

 _*SQUISH*_

 _*SQUISH*_

 _*SQUISH*_

"Gross. The sound this stuff makes is way worse than the way it looks", Steve mumbled. "Is this all Redlight Biomass?"

"It is", Alex replied darkly, watching the eyes in the trees. So far, they were only flicking around without focusing on them. That meant that Pariah either didn't use them or it was not interested in watching four men (well, three men and one big green dude). Hulk growled as he kept looking over his shoulder from time to time. "I noticed that too", Thor claimed, "These creatures are watching us, stalking us, yet they do not attack."

"They are predators", Alex reminded them, while still watching the surroundings. "They will not attack unless they see a sign of weakness." He nodded towards one of the trees as they passed it. "They don't worry me at the moment. What does bother me is the question where the hell Pariah's getting all the Biomass from. To overtake the entire north sector of an Island and to cover it almost completely with mass..." He tapped his foot on one of the many veins running across the floor, "It requires way more than the few thousand people or so he has infected already." He shook his head. "Also, Redlight has completely infected this entire forest here. The outbreak in 2008 _killed_ the plants, but did not _infect_ them."

"This Pariah you spoke off then has evolved further than its mother", Thor assumed.

"He did", the virus replied. "Hell, _I_ have a bad time working on plant material, but this? Having taken over a _whole_ forest within two days is just insane." He paused, arm twitching as it changed into a barbed tentacle. He whipped it into the underbrush, catching something small. It shrieked as he dragged it out of its hideout.

The Avengers stared at the squirming shape.

"..."

"...Seriously?"

"...Is that?"

"Bunny", Hulk supplied helpfully. "Ugly Bunny."

"I guess it is", Steve frowned at the thing. It could resemble a rabbit, but it was heavily mutated, akin to the walkers they've seen in the distance or maybe the spiked Hunter they saw in Afghanistan.

The plague is also affecting animals", Thor muttered. "Was it able to do this before?"

"It wasn't", Alex explained with slight disgust. "Since Redlight was designed to work for humans, it barely affected animals at all. New York was overrun with stray cats and dogs and there was a shit load of crows around, but none became infected." He paused, turning the rabbit around in his talon. "The first non-human infection that happened was when I consumed a crow to get back together after the Nuke exploded. After that, I learnt I could also hunt and consume animals, while I had only humans before. But this is the first _infected_ animal I've seen."

"Birds", Hulk suddenly growled, but it was more of a questioning tone.

Thor narrowed his eyes. "You are right", he noticed, "I haven't seen any birds. Shouldn't birds be the best carriers for a plague like this?"

"Birds are clever", Alex assumed, "They escaped when Redlight spread. I think they flocked furthest away from this place here and will escape the Island soon, no matter whether they manage to cross the sea or not." He squeezed his tentacle, absorbing the mutated rabbit in a matter of seconds. In an instant, his world faded into orange and whites. With Redlight all around him, Alex could easily tap into the Hive mind. He felt the infection trying to push past the Red Line. He felt the agony its carriers felt when they were burned in the fires.

His eyes went wide at the sound of an ear-splitting wail through the mental link. He whirled around, gaze locked with the mountain in the distance.

"Alex?" Steve asked. "Is everything all right?" Alex didn't respond. This was not a normal contact like he experienced back in 2008. Those he could easily block out. No, this was a wave of pure emotions. Something he never experience before.

Also, it was something normal Hunters didn't have. They were emotionless killing machines. Hell, even Greene did not show any emotions. Her orders were cold, calculated. Even after he hit her with the parasite she got back to her normal facade fast after puking it back up. The only times he noticed anything remotely human from her was when she made her final stand on Times Square, when the pure hatred and sheer desperation forced her out of her hiding.

But this...this was completely different. It was downright maddening. Alex snarled. His Claws formed before his rational mind even caught up with him. At the same time, the entire Biomass around them shifted in agitation and the previously hidden infected began hissing.

"Pariah", he growled, swiping the Whipfist just above Thor's head to dismember a group of infected. "He's playing with my head. I'm gonna make him pay." With a roar, he just whirled around and took off running, quickly leaving the group behind. Steve shouted after him, but the virus didn't respond at all.

"We have greater worries", Thor declared darkly. "The fiends have forfeited any care and are approaching."

The Soldier out of time ground his teeth together. Thor was right. The deformed monsters roared and snarled, drawing closer with teeth flashed and claws ready. "Any ideas on the course of action?"

"Smash Monsters", Hulk snarled. "Then follow Hooded Man."

-oOo-

"Uh-oh", Sam winced. "Guys? Shitload on giant monsters trying to break through!"

"Holy Fuck!" Johnny Storm exclaimed near him, "Those things are as large as a building!"

" _Goliaths? Really?"_ Tony groaned through the COM. _"And about six as well."_

" _I told you the night's gonna be the worst of your life."_

" _No shit, Sherlock."_


	16. The worst night of my life

The worst night of my life

Dana grunted, fingers going up to pinch the bridge of her nose. Her eyes hurt from staring at the screen for so long. Ever since the Avengers left, she was down here in the lab to continue working through the data. However, this time she wasn't interested in the viral and technological research HYDRA made, this time she was going to find out about the source: Pariah. Dana refused to believe that it popped up out of nowhere. It had to have been someplace safe after Hope. Somewhere Blackwatch thought they could keep it under control. She sighed. Blackwatch, HYDRA... there were too many names for the same people. Maybe she should just generalize it and call them all 'Fuckheads'.

She stopped scrolling, eyes wide when she noticed two words: _Project Mother_.

Project Mother was Elizabeth Greene's codename. Fucking Greene. The one who happy slapped Alex through a wall before fleeing to unleash chaos on Manhattan. The bitch that easily withstood the parasite that almost killed Alex and then had the nerve to kidnap her!

Dana opened the file and skimmed through it. She was looking for anything that might have given her a hint about Pariah.

 _Log 13:  
Subject MOTHER shows signs of immense stress. She is raging, requiring the staff to keep her subdued with chemicals. Subject PARIAH still in infant stage, shows signs of normal aging._

 _Log 16:  
Subject MOTHER calms down when in contact with Subject PARIAH. Professor wants to separate them for further testing. Subject PARIAH keeps growing._

 _Log 25:  
Subject MOTHER submerged into stasis tank. All contact to Subject PARIAH lost. Subject PARIAH begins to become anxious._

 _Log 63:  
Subject PARIAH displays the same grade of intelligence as non-infected comparison group. However, Subject PARIAH also displays a high level of aggression. Demands to see Subject MOTHER._

 _Log 76:  
Subject PARIAH caused major infection with simple touch. Three security officers have been infected. They turned within moments. Infection could be contained._

 _Log 89:  
Subject PARIAH displays high level of adaptability. The virus tried to escape containment via infected dipterous insect. It was contained._

 _Log 90:  
General put a stop to Subject PARIAH. Subject now frozen inside base. The government responsible has no knowledge of our hidden base within it._

"Not much", Dana mumbled. "Except that Pariah was trying to escape a few times. Seems it managed it this time."

"You're talking to yourself" Dana turned her head slightly to see Pepper walk right in.

"Pepper?!" Dana exclaimed in surprise, "I thought you'd be still in Tokyo?"

"The fair is running smooth and I got a message from Tony. It said that the guys are in Majorca, fighting an infection. I thought I could help from here." She shrugged and sat down next to the younger woman. "Besides, I didn't know what to do without Tony. I'm not the authority on mechanics or electronics." She sat down besides her. "So, what are you looking at?"

"PARIAH", Dana replied with a huff. "Alex suspects it's the source for this Redlight Infection. It seems he was right. According to the files, PARIAH evolves and adapts fast. Almost faster than Blacklight."

"And you are looking for anything that might help Tony and the others to stop it, right?"

"I do. The main problem is that we don't have any time. If that continues like it does, then it won't take long for Redlight to adapt to water and escape the island."

"The guys will find a way to stop it. Thor's a God, I'm sure he is gonna get an idea or two."

"I hope so too", Dana mumbled. Her eyes narrowed a bit when she discovered a video file. "Well hello. This video file? It got the same date as the last Log I've read."

"There are more here", Pepper noticed, "But yeah, let's start with the last one."

Dana nodded and hit the button. The image came to life as a scratched black-and-white movie. It was some sort of hallway, showing a large vault door that was crusted over with ice. A man in a hazmat suit stood there, staring down the corridor.

Two more men came into view, both dressed up similar to the first one. They dragged a much smaller, struggling shape with them.

Dana and Pepper both sucked in the air through their teeth. The video had no sound and it was really bad quality, but they got the gist of it. These men just dragged Pariah into the freezing unit. They could clearly see the distress on Pariah's face as he tried to escape, they could nearly hear the shrieks he made as he struggled to break free.

"Merciful God", Pepper groaned.

"This is horrible", Dana whimpered. "I wouldn't have imagined...I gotta call Alex."

-OoOoO-

Natasha rarely swore. But she was quite sure that now was the perfect time to do so. In fact, she was swearing so bad that Wanda and the soldiers stared at her with a horrified facial expression.

But okay, they had a five-story tall giant mutated monster of mass infection threatening to simply stomp them flat. From what the Widow heard over the communication, there were at least five more of these things trying to push outwards of the Red Zone. Two of them were in Bunyola alone, while the others acted alone. Well 'alone' was not the right word. Actually, the Goliaths worked in teams with them being the main tanks and a fuck load of Hunters and other infected creatures following behind their path of destruction.

Natasha swore again, Chitauri gun whipping around to blast three infected... deer(?) that tried to jump her. Wanda was gathering up energy, creating a massive blast of pure destruction that literally obliterated five Hunters at once. It also made the Goliath stumble and zero in on their position while completely ignoring the soldiers around them.

It roared out, silencing the bangs of the guns around them as it made its move towards them.

"Can you fry it?!" the Widow shouted, aiming her gun at the behemoth's tiny face.

"I can try!" Scarlet Witch gave back, "But I don't know how much more I could do after that. I am already tired and these things don't make it any better!"

Natasha fell silent. The Goliath was the larger target, but the infected were the more dangerous ones from their numbers alone. "Fry the small guys", she eventually ordered, "I'll have the Marines shoot the big Mofo into its face!"

"HULK SMASH!"

"Or not..."

The Goliath was hit hard, sending it stumbling back as the uncanny shape of the green angry Hulk appeared from the dark. Hulk roared at the monster, then jumped up to violently bash its skull in. The Goliath roared in pain, but it was unable to shake the radioactive creature off. After a few more well-placed punches, the giant infected finally reeled over and stayed dead. Hulk roared again, smacking his chest with one fist and driving a Leader Hunter into the ground with the other.

"Big Guy!" Hulk turned to the voice of Natasha, eyeing the spy idly.

"Hulk smash", the green rage monster growled.

"Not here", the Widow said, "Thanks for killing that guy here, but the guys need your help over in Bunyola. There are _two_ Goliaths there!"

"Other monsters?"

"We can deal with them", Natasha assured him. "Go! You are about the only one able to stop the Goliaths!"

Hulk snorted and jumped off.

"Thank God you are the Hulk whisperer", Wanda grinned.

"Less talking", Natasha sighed, "More killing things."

-oOo-

Tony whirled through the air, narrowly avoiding a Hunter that leapt at him. Okay, he was way too close to the floor, he thought as he dodged its swipes. The Hunter yowled as it fell back to the ground below.

" _Fucking Things!"_ Heller swore somewhere over Inca. _"Stark! These fuckers are learning!"_

"I noticed", the genius commented dryly. "Keep an eye on them then. We still have to keep them from getting out of the Red Zone." He watched the Hunter from before. It snarled and leapt up once more, this time succeeding in catching one of the empty suits right out of the air. It wasted no time tearing it to pieces, making Tony wince.

"Okay, guys? Make sure they don't catch you. They've learnt how to take the suits apart."

-oOo-

Susan grumbled under her breath as she created a force field on either side of a Walker and slammed them together, resulting in an unholy mess. She had Ben to help her out with the clobbering, as well as the army behind her, but Reed was not able to fight alongside with her. Mr. Fantastic's way of restraining and stretching wouldn't impress man-eating monsters at all. Also, this put the genius way too close to their infectious jaws for Susan's taste, so they all had agreed to leave him behind the line, where he was supposed to find a way of stopping the infection. None of them knew if the alterations caused by the solar radiation would prevent them from becoming infected themselves, but they weren't too keen on finding out.

As far as she heard, Reed wasn't having any luck with any sort of vaccine. Anything short of burning the stuff was useless.

"Su! Incoming!" Ben shouted, even as he wrestled a Leader Hunter. Its claws scraped along his rock body, but he already was having a few chips in his skin. Luckily, none were deep enough to be concerning. So far, the Fantastic Four (minus Johnny) only wore high-tech gas masks. Susan swore and threw up a shield. The Goliath plunged its bladed arm against it and swayed back from the force, snarling enraged.

"Ben!" Susan shouted, "Can you distract it until I get my barriers up to kill it?"

"Sorry Su", the stone man grunted, smacking a group of infected dogs together, "No chance. I'm up to my face in monsters!"

"Damn it" The woman leapt back and floated up to the monster's head. She briefly considered turning invisible, but then remembered that these things are able to see in the heat spectrum as well. Susan sighed annoyed and dodged a few blows.

A barrage of high caliber ammunition hit the beast in the chest, blinding it with smoke for a moment. The Marines weren't idle. Now with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four on their side, their morale was boosted. Susan gave a thumbs-up to the men, regardless whether they could see it or not and floated to the monster's tiny head, quickly turning invisible to force it to switch visions. She used the small amount of time it couldn't see her to flit behind its head. Then she slipped a force field into the things' brain and expanded it. The Goliath jerked back, roaring in pain. Susan took great care to avoid the flailing Blade-arm as the field expanded.

About forty seconds later and the field ruptured the monster's skull, leaving it essentially headless. It swayed and flailed for a few minutes, but eventually went down.

"Gross", the heroine grunted.

-oOo-

Clint was shooting arrow after arrow from the rooftops of Binissalem. So far, the infected were only Walkers from different species, so he and the Marine Corps that were here to stop the outbreak weren't having too many troubles.

He noticed something pink dart towards them. He aimed an arrow and shot it down even before he noticed that it was a Hunter. The projectile was of explosive nature, so when it went off, it took the creature's skull with it in a glorious ball of fire. Suddenly, three more Hunters shot from the smoke and flames. Hawkeye managed to pick off one and the soldiers gunned down the second one, but the third was already too close.

Just as it pounced at the soldiers, something blue hit it in the side of the head, bounced off a few walls and returned to the expectant hand of Captain America. Steve growled, challenging the infected monster with his entire posture. The monster growled and leapt at him, but the Captain easily side-stepped and slammed his shield into its neck, snapping it. "Now!" He shouted, ordering the soldiers to shoot the monster.

Human Torch zipped past in that moment, leaving a giant wall of fire in his way.

The men exhaled and relaxed a bit. They finally had a small break. Of course, this pause wouldn't last long, but they could enjoy it for the time it was.

"Steve", Clint greeted him, hopping off the roof he was perched on. "I thought you're on the way to Pariah."

"Hulk and me turned back and came for you guys", the Captain explained. "Thor's still out there, chasing after Zeus."

Clint furrowed his brows. "Why?"

Steve exhaled. "He tapped into the Hive mind", he explained, "And suddenly started growling about how Pariah's messing with his head. Then he simply ran off and left us at the mercy of a group of infected. We fought the way clear, but then we got the message that there were Goliaths around here. Thor claimed he would follow after Zeus and make sure he finishes the mission while I and the big guy turned back around to help you guys." He smiled at the soldiers. "Still, it looked like you had it under control. Good job."

"Thanks sir", a captain gave back, "But the last thing got too close for my taste."

"At any rate", another one said, "I'm sure we can keep this up until noon tomorrow, but after that we won't have any rested men left. Also, we have barely eaten or drank since this all started."

"Then let's hope Thor and Zeus can finish Pariah before that happens", Steve mumbled darkly.

"Let's hope our Government finally pulls its head out of its ass and sends a few more men over here", Clint added.

-oOo-

Thor was shooting through the sky, following the path Alex took before. It was easy following his way, the Blacklight's dense frame had left deep imprints on every surface, be it brittle lime or solid rock.

The infected creatures that followed after him were not fast enough to catch up with the God of Thunder and Thor did stop from time to time to send a mighty lightning bolt down to destroy the fiends.

He could see the Puig Major Base in the distance, so he willed Mjöllnir to fly faster. He arrived at the shattered entrance of the compound. Thor narrowed his eyes and gripped the hammer tighter. He did not hear any sound of battle from within, but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared. He just hoped that the Blacklight warrior was in a lucid state of mind. He really didn't want to have to battle a man he'd come to know as a Shield Brother.

Once he stepped inside, he noticed that there weren't enough bodies. In fact, there wasn't even a single body inside the base. Instead, he found organic growths on the walls, shattered glass and shredded walls.

"So the plague started here", the God mused.

"But Pariah's gone." Thor turned a bit to see Alex stalk out from the dark hallway.

"It fled?"

"He did", the virus gave back irritated. "Come on, I gotta show you something." He turned back around and marched into the bowels of the base. Thor followed him, albeit with some distance and without leaving him out of his eyes.

"You ran off", he began after they turned another corner and marched down a set of stairs. "Left us at the mercy of the beasts."

Alex didn't reply, so Thor added: "We fought through them, but then the Ironman contacted us and told us of these Goliaths attacking. I send the Captain and the green Beast back while I went to stop you from doing something foolish."

"I couldn't think clearly", Alex snorted. "When I tapped into the Hive mind, all I felt was an immense rage and _hatred_ for this place. Didn't even know what I was doing until I stood here." He stepped aside, allowing Thor to see a cold storage vault, not unlike the one he's seen in Afghanistan. However, it has been smashed to pieces, just like any computer and every room in this part of the building.

"Is this where the Hydra imprisoned the Pariah?"

"It is", Alex replied darkly. "He must've felt an extreme hatred towards this place if he trashed it that way." He nodded towards a caved-in section. "That over there has been me, by the way. Like I said, I didn't know what was happening. All I knew was that I was so incredibly _angry_ at this whole place."

"But it wasn't your rage", Thor noted. "It was Pariah's, wasn't it?"

"He has an incredible strong connection to the Hive mind. _I_ am not part of it, just got it from the rabbit I've eaten and still I could barely control myself." He shook his head. "Now I know how to shield my mind from the Hive. Don't want to experience this total loss of control again."

"But this means that all the plague bearers out there are under Pariah's complete control", Thor realized. "They are an extension of its mind."

"Like Elizabeth's Hunters were. Greene controlled the infection with an iron fist, selecting out of instinct where to attack and whom to kill." Alex shook his head. "However, Pariah's acting differently. The most logical course of action would have been to take over the nearest city and spread from there, but he just infected everything without making a difference. Also this control he has over the infected is more emotion than instinct. He feels hatred towards something and everything also feels the need to eradicate what he hates."

"Much like you when you fought the Blackwatch", Thor noticed.

"Yeah, very much like me, but I don't spread like he does."

They went back outside. "What are we supposed to do now?" The god asked.

"Find Pariah and kill him", Alex replied. "He fled north."

"We should make haste then. I do not know how much longer our allies can hold the borders."

"Agreed."

Just as they began walking away from the base, Alex' mobile telephone started chirping. The virus retrieved it from his Biomass, frowning at the caller ID.

He answered it. "Dana?"

" _Oh God, Alex!"_

"What is the problem?"

" _I just leafed through the files you found. I discovered something about Pariah. Alex, he evolves fast, faster than you do."_

"I kind of figured that."

" _But there is something else"_ , his little sister swallowed audibly. _"Alex, I don't know how to tell you that, but are you sure you can kill Pariah in cold blood?"_

"I did Greene without a second thought, why should her spawn be any different?"

" _It's just... Alex, Pariah is a scared_ _ **six-year old kid**_ _."_


	17. Pariah

Pariah

There were no longer stars visible against the night sky. Their brightness was casually swallowed up by the upcoming dawn. It was so eerily silent with only the waves gently rolling over the beach. The sand was cold as the little boy buried his feet into it. He paused for a moment, eyes going up to the sky. It was cold, but not so cold like the place he was locked up in. He has never been to the beach, actually. He has never seen the sunrise.

Actually...he never has been _outside_ for all he knew. Well, _he hadn't_ , but he did have memories of being outside, but those weren't _his_. They were those of one of the bad men. He didn't mean to steal them, it just happened when the bad man had roughly grabbed him to shove him back into the cold room.

The boy shivered, hugging his knees a bit tighter. He didn't understand why these men were so intent on hurting him. He hasn't done anything wrong...did he? All he wanted was to see his mommy. Not his fault when he got so angry at the bad men. He really wanted to see his mommy and they didn't allow him.

But now he was _outside_ and the bad men were _gone_. With a pang of sadness he noticed that he didn't know where he mommy was. Even when he was sleeping in the cold room, he could always hear her voice in his head. But now she was gone. It was only him and his friends. He tilted his head over to his three best friends who lay on the sand. They have been with him even when he had been put to sleep in the cold room.

He blinked and jumped to his feet. Of course! There still was his brother! Maybe his big brother knew where mommy was!

He stopped in his tracks though soon enough. What if his brother didn't want anything to do with him? He ignored him before, so maybe he didn't want him help find his mommy? That thought made him very sad.

One of his friends got up and growled softly, turning his attention to the dunes. His eyes widened the moment he saw his big brother saunter towards them.

"You came!" The little boy shouted as he ran up to him. In an instant, he had his big brother in a tight hug- well, as much as he could since he only reached up to his knees. He noticed his big brother stiffen a bit, but he relaxed a bit as he dropped his hand to his head. "Hey there", he says, "Wanna watch the sun rise?"

-oOo-

Alex ground his teeth together, switching through a series of visions. It was around 3:30 a.m. when he and Thor finally reached a small beach located near the Racó de Mortix river.

"He's there", the virus growled in a low tone, "Not moving. And he has three large infected with him. Hunters, most likely."

"Are you certain you are willing to go through with it?" Thor asks silently.

"Don't have much choice", Alex replies. "Just keep an eye on me, okay? Make sure I don't screw this up. If I do, just...just blow the whole beach to High Hell."

Thor nodded grimly and gripped Mjöllnir harder. Alex inhaled and clenched his fists, steeling his resolve. He threw his companion another look before turning and walking towards the dunes. His thoughts swirled back to the conversation the two had back at the base.

" _You can't be serious Dana!" Alex more or less shouted into his phone._

" _I am serious", his sister gave back. "You can't see my face, but it is my serious face."_

" _But I have been told that the Pariah has been born over forty years ago", Thor exclaimed. Apparently, he has listened in to the phone call. "The Pariah can no longer be in the shape of a child."_

 _Dana sighed. "Put me on loudspeaker, Alex." She waited patiently for her brother to follow said order before conveying more information to them. "He was frozen most of the time", she said. "The files stated that he aged like a normal child for the first six years until they put him on ice. Alex, they treated him as a weapon, not as a kid. Had him locked up 24/7, ran tests on him. They were surprised when he started speaking like normal kids do, the first thing he wanted was to see his mommy. There have been theories that stated that he got his knowledge either via the mental link between him and Greene or that it might have been genetic memories." She paused. "There is a big difference between Pariah and Alex though. 'Alex' is a virus that hijacked Alex' body and believed it was him. Pariah however has been infected with Redlight when he was essentially a single haploid cell, so unlike Blacklight that had a complete body to copy; Redlight just had a bunch of DNA and had to work from there."_

" _So basically", Alex summarized, "Pariah is Redlight that had created its own body from the genetic information of Greene and Greene's partner." He whistled. "Damn, advanced genetic re-combination. Nifty."_

" _I was led to believe that this was your ability as well", Thor questioned._

" _Not on this level. I can partially manipulate my own code by adding new sequences to it, but I can not make up a whole new working code, something Redlight apparently did with Pariah." He scowled. "Back to square one: Pariah. What are we going to do with him? The strand is evolving too fast."_

" _Lady Dana, do you think he is able to control the virus, just like Alexander is?"_

" _I doubt it", Dana replied, "From the files I've read it appears that Pariah can not control whether he's giving off infectious material or not. Even a touch from him infects immediately. He is the purest and most destructive form of a viral life form that fatally comes with the body and mind of a six-year old kid."_

 _Alex was silent for a moment. "Then we have no other choice", he muttered silently. "We need to kill Pariah."_

" _ALEX!" Dana shrieked. Thor stared at the virus with wide eyes. Alex winced and turned away to avoid his gaze. "There's no other choice, Dana. There are only two possibilities: Either Pariah dies and we can stop the infection, or he lives, but then we have to lock him up just like HYDRA did. Besides...he is holding an intense grudge towards HYDRA, who is going to tell him that the other humans are different? Infecting all of Majorca without picking targets first, it's not normal Runner behavior."_

" _You assume it is that the Pariah wants mankind to be gone, is that it?"_

" _It is a possibility. Greene certainly wanted that and I think Pariah wants the same."_

 _Dana made a choking sound on the other end. "Just-just make sure nobody else has to suffer, Alex. Especially the kid. The kid's been the victim in all of this." She hung up. Alex was left to stare at the phone in his hand._

" _There's no honor in fighting a child", Thor exclaimed darkly._

Alex scowled as he moved closer to the dune. Pariah was just one person. One single, insignificant creature.

 _That basically was a scared child._

Fuck.

Alex growled. He had promised Dana to never hurt children. Even back in Manhattan he would never ever attack children, no matter how starved he was. Even if it meant having to struggle to keep his form solid, as long children were present he rarely fought at all, retreating from sight almost immediately.

And now it was necessary to kill a kid.

 _You already consumed Greene._

But Greene was different. She knew perfectly well what she was doing. Pariah doesn't. Or has at least no idea how devastating it was.

 _Just get over with it before you can get attached._

But jumping and killing a kid...isn't that what I promised to never do? I am _not_ the monster I was made to be.

As Alex crossed the dune, he took in the sight before him. There were three massive Leader Hunters sitting in the sand with a little boy next to them. The kid was wearing a simple hospital gown. One of the Hunters lifted its head and growled in his direction. Alex bristled, getting ready for battle.

"You came!" Mercer blinked in confusion as the small kid ran up to him and tackled his legs. For a split second he believed he would attack him, but instead he just... _hugged_ his legs. Pariah was happy- _happy_ to see the very guy who killed his mother.

Fuck.

Alex let his hand drop to the kid's head. "Hey there", he says awkwardly. "Wanna watch the sunrise?"

Pariah's face lit up instantly. "Of course!" He chirped happily, dragging Alex over to where he had been sitting before. Alex awkwardly planted himself cross-legged onto the sand, keeping an eye on the Redlight Virus.

 _Great work genius. Now eat him before you do more stupid things._

Just let him have that. He's never been outside of that lab. Just let him have some fun. It's not necessary to make him an enemy when he believes I'm the good guy.

 _I don't know why I even bother with you anymore. You do know that Thor's gonna blow the beach sky-high, right?_

"I've never seen the sunrise!" Pariah exclaimed happily. "But today I'm gonna see it!" His tone turned a bit sad. "I just wish mommy was here to watch it with me." He beamed at Alex a second later. "But now you are here, big brother! I'm so happy that I really have a big brother! Mommy used to tell me about you!"

"She talked to you?"

"I my head", Pariah explained proudly, "The bad men couldn't hear her. I wanted to see her so badly, but then she suddenly stopped speaking." He tilted his head. "Did the bad men take her away?"

Alex swallowed, memories of Time's Square resurfacing. "They did", he lied through clenched teeth.

"I hate them", Pariah mumbled, hugging his legs. Alex narrowed his eyes, sensing the rage radiating off the kid. "I really hate them. They were so mean to me. Always having me do their tests. I hate that place I was in because they made me sleep in that cold room."

The Hunters hissed enraged and even Alex felt the virus beneath his skin churn. "I really hate them. People are always so mean to me."

"How did you escape?"

"I don't know", the kid pouted, "It was always so cold, but suddenly it wasn't anymore. When I woke up, there were the bad people. They said they wanted to make me behave. I was _scared_."

So they tried implanting the Neural Behavior Controls into Pariah's brain. It backfired and killed off one third of the island. Idiots.

"But I am not scared any more", Pariah continued. "Because now I have my friends." The Hunters growled in response. Alex arched an eyebrow. "Your friends?"

"I know. They look really scary, but they are really nice to me. They protect me from the bad men. And I wanted them to have more friends."

The Redlight Infection. "Even the trees?"

"Trees and flowers and everything too", Pariah explained proudly, "I don't like green. Green's an ugly color. Also, when I close my eyes and focus really hard, I can see what they see. Cool, huh?"

Fucking Hell. Evolution because he doesn't like a color. "Sweet", Alex replied.

 _Are you still going to do that good big brother thing?_

I am. Just for a while. Until I figured how to finish the job in the most humane way possible.

Alex held out his hand. "Wanna see something cool?" He switched his arm into his clawed talon. Pariah's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "Awesome!" he shrieked happily. "What else can you do?"

"Swords, shields, armor..."

"Like a knight?"

"Exactly like a knight."

"Can you make dragons too?"

"Dragons?"

"Yeah! Really big and really cool and can breathe fire! I wanna breathe fire, then I wouldn't be scared of it anymore!"

"I can't do that."

"Oh" The boy tilted his head. "Do you know that there are really bad people here?"

"I know"

"They are shooting my friends and are burning everything. I'm scared of fire." He huffed out and gazed over his shoulder. "There is this one town. There were many people in it before. I would have liked to meet them, but then the bad people arrived and chased them away. I wanted to help them."

The attack on Bunyola...Pariah wanted to _help_ the civilians?

"And then there came even more bad people. When they arrived, they stopped my friends completely and started burning them. And then they are trying to take my home away." Pariah frowned unhappily. "And then there is this really mean man. He is really, _really_ mean. He was in my head! I hate him!"

An image of Cross shot through Alex' brain. So Cross managed to tap into the Hive mind? Must be a side-result of the D-Code reversion. D-Codes could sniff Blacklight out, after all. In an instant, Alex had an idea. "Don't you think your friends are tired?" He asked. Pariah blinked at him. "Tired?"

"They have been trying to get past the bad men for a while already. I think they deserve a nap."

"But what about the bad men?"

"They are cowards. Call your friends and tell them to take a nap. Just until sunrise, okay? The bad men will think you've given up and get careless." He leaned down to the kid. "Also, they would stop hurting your friends if they can't find them, right?"

Pariah seemed to think about this. "Okay", he finally admitted. "You're right. I will tell them to go back." He stood swiftly and bounced over to the Hunters to link up with the Hive. Alex immediately tapped into Blacklight's own Hive. If he was correct, and the thousands of scientists inside his head said he was, then there was only one other being on this island that he could contact. A second later and he felt another presence. When he tried to grasp it, it blocked him out. He tried it a few times until he was fed up.

" _Fucking Cross!"_ He all but mentally yelled into the Hive connection. The other presence lurched.

" _Mercer?! What the Fuck?!"_

" _No time to explain. What are the infected doing?"_

" _Dieing. A lot. And looking ugly."_

" _Besides the obvious."_

" _Wait..."_ There was a pause and Alex quickly threw a look at Pariah. The kid was still busy talking to his 'Friends'. _"They are retreating."_

" _Good. Don't engage them."_

" _What?!"_

" _You heard me. Leave them be. Go and lick your own wounds, Cross."_

" _Why the fucking Hell? They are retreating! They show us their backs! We can go and smoke them out!"_

" _You won't!"_ Alex barked. _"Listen here, Cross! You will have the men stand down. I am with Pariah at the moment and convinced him to pull back his Infected. You hear me? He thinks I'm his best buddy at the moment, I do not want to jeopardize that!"_

Cross was silent for a moment. _"Fine"_ He growled unhappily. _"I'll tell the men to not pursue these Fuckers. Gives us a chance to get the big guns into position. How long do we have?"_

" _Until dawn."_

" _God fucking Mercer."_

" _Yeah yeah. You can kiss my ass later."_

"Big Brother?" Alex lifted his head, looking at the kid standing in front of him. "Hm?"

"You look angry."

"Ah, that's my normal expression", the Blacklight virus replied.

"You're not angry with me?"

"Why should I? You are my little brother, after all."

 _You are going to regret this later._

I regretted a lot of things. What's one more?

Pariah beamed at him. "Hey, do you know how to build a sand castle?"

-oOo-

The gray night sky had slowly turned into brighter colors of pale violet and orange. Pariah was happily nestled against Alex' chest, as he excitedly watched the sun peek over the horizon. Alex was still sitting cross-legged in the same place, staring at nothing in particular. Dawn was coming. He had made a decision.

With a pang in his chest he eyed the nearly man-tall sand castle the kid had built with him. Alex even went so far to look for clam shells for decoration. He didn't want to admit it, but he really had a lot of fun.

But it was time. Pariah was a threat to humanity.

And Alex is a monster, after all.

"It's so pretty", the kid chirped happily. "The sunrise is really awesome!"

"Yeah, I think so too."

"I wonder whether the bad men think that too. Bad people don't like pretty things, do they?"

"Hm." Alex exhaled slowly. "Hey, bro?"

"What is?"

"The bad men...would you like going to a place where they can't hurt you any more?"

"They will always find me", Pariah mumbled.

"They won't", Alex replied. "It would be just you and me. No bad men, no cold rooms."

"That would be awesome", the kid answered. "Just you and me. And we could look for mommy too. Then we could be a family again."

Alex swallowed hard.

"I think I really like you", Pariah stated.

"I really like you too", Alex muttered. "No matter what might happen."

With an inhuman fast motion, he grabbed the kid's head and simply _twisted_ before Pariah noticed what was happening.

The Hunters flinched and whirled around, roaring at Alex.

Monster of Manhattan indeed.


	18. Dawn

Dawn

Two hours at best. Cross fucking knew that this wasn't a whole lot of time to prepare for the upcoming assault. He spent the entire time barking orders at extremely tired men and upset Avengers. He wasn't here to make friends, he was here to stop the infection.

Cross didn't really know what Mercer meant with 'being Pariah's best buddy', but he did manage to convince the Redlight carrier to retreat his troops, giving Cross the chance to regroup the men and women. It was hardest keeping Hulk under control and still in 'Hulk Mode' instead of having him transform back into Bruce Banner. The giant green beast eyed the specialist.

"Anything?" He asked through the Communication.

" _Still nothing"_ Stark replied.

" _Are you sure they will come back?"_ Sam questioned.

"Mercer placed the deadline on dawn", the Specialist growled. "It would be the most idiotic idea to relax when they are going to come back. For all we know, it could be a trick."

" _I'm still at loss how Zeus managed to contact you"_ , Pietro mumbled. The speedster had retreated to his twin sister for a much-needed breather.

"Fucking Blacklight Hive mind", Cross growled. "The D-Code reversion I have been part of was originally a different Blacklight strand. It is obvious that Mercer is able to contact me, since I am the only other Blacklight infected around."

" _Are you sure Alex managed to defeat Pariah?"_ Steve asked. _"I'm not sure how much longer the men can keep on fighting. And this waiting is grating on their nerves."_

" _Let's hope they did it",_ Natasha muttered darkly _. "Or else we are toast next attack."_

" _Break out the jam then"_ , Heller rumbled. _"These motherfuckers are moving again."_

Cross exhaled coldly before he turned to the soldiers. "That's it, break's over! These fuckers are moving again. Get ready to give 'em Hell!"

The men and women scrambled to their feet and got in position, watching the blood red forest at the other end of the scorched field. True to the scout's words the infected had started moving again. They were pushing past the boundaries of the Blood Forest and began moving towards the Red Line once more.

With numerous roars they started running towards them.

One Hunter pounced into the air, aiming right at Cross. Just in Mid-air it let out a pained shriek and crushed into the ground several yards away from the man. Cross narrowed his eyes and watched the creature twist on the ground. Blood began flowing from its maw and from openings that might have been ears and eyes. It shrieked and flailed before collapsing in a heap.

The Hunter was dead.

"Sir?" One of the Soldiers asked. "What is going on?" The Specialist lifted his head, witnessing the other infected suffering in similar ways. Some managed to crawl a few steps, others died where they stood.

"Monsters dead", Hulk growled. "No smashing."

"I see that. The question is, why?"

Hulk tilted his head. "Need Doctor?" He eventually asked.

Cross thought for a moment. "Maybe that would be the best idea. Go and take a break, big guy, we need the little guy now."

Hulk snorted and wandered off while Cross moved towards the dead Hunter in front of him. It had just keeled over, but why?

" _Uh...what the Heck is going on down there?"_ Tony asked.

" _The Infected are just falling over"_ , Bucky noted.

" _Not only the infected"_ , Clint threw in. _"The forest's dieing too."_

It was true. The red trees turned black within moments and fell over, breaking like matches. The eyes on them turned blank. The whole Red Zone was dieing.

"Call Richards here", Cross growled. "I need his insight."

-o-

Mr. Fantastic, better known as Reed Richards, arrived an hour later in Bunyola. By now most of the Red Zone had died off, according to Tony's scans.

"What do you think of this?" Cross asked, nodding towards the Hunter that had already been opened up by Doctor Bruce Banner.

Reed furrowed his brows and came closer. "Massive internal hemorrhaging", he noted.

"I kind of got to this part already", Bruce said. "The question is why. We haven't deployed the Bloodtox yet and still...their organs ruptured."

Reed picked up a stick and prodded at the infectious tissues. "There are countless holes in it and most of the structure is completely gone."

"Was this an antiviral agent?"

"It wasn't", Reed mumbled. He frowned deeply for a moment until realization hit him like a sledge hammer. "This...this looks like a controlled cell death. Apoptosis on a grand scale!"

"Rewind that", Cross snapped. "You are meaning to tell me that they spontaneously destroyed their own cells and died?!"

"Not on their own", Bruce noted. "Apoptosis is the process of removing damaged or not needed cells. It normally is a controlled process. But this is uncontrolled. Chaotic. It was more a fire that wrecked the important systems, like a necrotic process. Still, the cells destroyed themselves without any damage from the outside."

"Fucking Hell", Cross groaned. "Mercer did it."

"Wait", Bruce turned to the man in astonishment. "Alex did that?"

"Hacked into their Hive mind and ordered suicide. Fucking Son of a Gun."

"Still, we need to tidy this here up", Fury commented. Everybody turned to see the director come into their direction. "The Assholes of the government finally agreed to help. I have a bunch of F-14s ready. As soon Mercer and Thor return, they are going to light up the Red Zone with Napalm. Lots and lots of Napalm." He turned to the scientists and soldiers. "It is your task to scout the area first and find survivors before I order the air strike. Then remove whatever they don't hit, got it? Even if these things are dead, the virus might still be active. We are not going to take any chances."

"Yes sir."

-o-

It was near noon when Thor and Alex returned. The Avengers had flocked back to Bunyola to celebrate their victory with the army. Tony had send up the remaining House Party suits to scan the area for survivors, allowing the men and women under arms to finally relax since the outbreak began.

"Finally!" Tony cheered, "The heroes of the hour return! You did good work out there!" He stopped himself a second later when he noticed the looks on both their faces. Thor was glaring darkly at nothing in particular while Alex had this look on his face he normally had shortly before he started killing people.

"Uh...what's wrong?"

"The battle, it did not go as planned, did it?" Steve asked, positioning himself between Alex and Tony to prevent the former shred the latter one.

"Some wars can only be won through bitter victories", Thor declared darkly. "And this victory was truly a very bitter one."

"You just saved the world from a world-wide Redlight infection", Cross growled. "In how far was this one 'Bitter' victory?"

Alex growled and whipped around, glaring at the Specialist. "If Blackwatch could just have had some common sense and completely terminate the Project Redlight after Manhattan, it wouldn't have been _my_ job to _kill_ and _consume_ a _little kid_ that thought I was his best friend!"

The Avengers jerked back, eyes going to Thor who nodded grimly. There was no question they could ask him about it later on.

"Fucking Hell", Cross mumbled. "So Pariah was just a kid? God Fucking Damn it, and here I thought that there were at least some decent people on Blackwatch." He sighed. "Go, take the Quinjet and go home to Dana. We're gonna tidy up here."

Alex blinked. "What?"

"You heard me", the Specialist growled. "Go back home. Cool down. You are no use to us when you are angry."

Alex scowled at him, but took the hint anyways. Without so much as sparing the other Avengers a second glance, he went towards the Quinjet and got in.

"You do know that you just gave him our only vehicle out of this place, right?" Clint asked as they watched the Quinjet disappear.

"Shut it, Barton. You can always call for another one."

-OoOoO-

 _4_ _th_ _April 2014, Avengers Tower_

The television was running, showing images of the U.N., the Spanish Military, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four working on the once infected area of Majorca. The damage the three days of the Outbreak did was immense, nearly one fifth of the human population, inhabitants and tourists alike, have lost their lives. The ecological damage was even worse. Almost the entire mountainous region of the island has been infected, killing millions of animals and plants alike. The only way of dealing with it has been a wide-set usage of Napalm, which in return caused a massive disaster. However, those were the better consequences as opposed to a complete loss of the island and possibly an infection of the entire world. Redlight has been spreading too fast.

Dana sighed and leaned against her brother who sat on the couch, glaring at the screen. He didn't speak, and that worried the young woman. He never has been one to talk much, but ever since he had stopped the infection by killing Pariah, he simply clammed up. The only thing he's done so far was hug Dana when he came home and then refuse to leave her side for longer than a few minutes. He didn't even go out for hunting.

"I'm kind of worried."

"..."

"You never pout. Not this much."

"...I don't pout." The first words after a week of silence.

"Fine, sulk then", Dana huffed. "It's just, you could never sit still for long and suddenly you decide to hole up here and keep an eye on me." She turned to face him. "And frankly, it goes on my nerves. Get out there and rip a few mobsters up. I know you love that."

"..."

"Look, I know how hard the whole affair with the kid has been. But it was the only plausible way to deal with Redlight. You've eaten more than enough Soldiers to know that war is far from glorious. The only thing you can do is to pick up the shards and continue with the way you find acceptable. Just remember: We are in this together, so if you have any problems just come to me."

"How do you know so much about motivational speeches?"

"I played of lot of Mass Effect lately."

"Remind me to play a game together one day. You and me, we could rule Mario Kart and finally throw Nate and Bucky off their throne."

"And suffer the consequences? Hell, pissing off a Russian Spy and a World War II Veteran is worth it!" Dana grinned. Alex was doing his version of a grin as well, which sent most people cowering.

"How did it spread so fast anyways?"

"Believe it or not, but Pariah has learnt to do his own Photosynthesis."

"Wait...he could make _Biomass_ from _sunlight_?"

"Sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, but essentially yes."

"So you can do that now as well?"

"I can. But it doesn't work as fast as just consuming a dude. Besides..." Alex winced. "I don't really want to grow _branches and leaves_." Dana giggled.

"Now that you're back to your old self, please crank up the volume, will you? I want to hear this." The younger sibling asked, nodding towards the television. Her brother complied.

" _As you can see, the cleanup has finally ended in Majorca. Ever trace of the so-called 'Redlight virus' has been purged. The survivors are still under supervision while they are being relocated, but the local authorities have ensured us that they are clean."_ The anchorman explained. _"The Avengers and the Fantastic Four have been essential to the defense of the population. The Spanish Government declared it wants to make them honorary citizens of Majorca. Now to Stacy at Bunyola."_

" _Thanks Stephan"_ , a woman with a microphone said. She stood in front of a podium. _"In a few seconds we will hear from the Avengers."_

The camera focused on the figures on top of the podium. There were Steve in his full uniform, Tony Stark, Director Fury and Cross.

" _I want to thank ever last man and woman who have been here before we arrived"_ , Steve spoke up. _"You have been the true heroes in this infection. After all, you prevented it from spreading any further."_ He forced a little smile. _"Sorry that you can't stand up here, but I'm afraid the Podium's not big enough for that."_

There were some chuckles in the background. Steve still smiled before turning serious again. _"Of course, I shouldn't forget about our allies at SHIELD who brought in the necessary equipments and were the main forces behind the cleanup. After all, it is only thanks to SHIELD that we managed to respond in time and prevent Redlight from spreading to the South. I know how much work it has been and I don't want to be ungrateful."_ He cleared his throat. _"And then there are two more individuals whom I want to thank from the deepest parts of my heart: One is ZEUS, one of the Avengers who had to leave for personal reasons. It was his merits that we could stop the Infection at all, as he took a great personal risk to halt it."_

"It's a good thing he didn't mention your real name", Dana noted.

" _The other one is Captain Robert Cross, a man who supplied us with the necessary insight about the infection."_ He stepped aside, allowing Cross to take over. The Captain stepped up, glaring at the crowd with an unreadable facial expression.

" _I'm not one for sugar-coating my words. I am Blackwatch."_ He lifted his hand to quell any upcoming questions. _"I fucking know what happened back in 2008. Blackwatch relocated the dangerous Bio Terrorist Elizabeth Greene to Manhattan where she escaped confinements and spread the infection. General Randall then ordered operation FIREBREAK, which was essentially blow the city to High Hell with a fucking Nuke."_

"Isn't he a cheerful one?" Alex questioned.

" _Now I'm not gonna lie. They made Redlight as a weapon of mass destruction, then they created Blacklight as an even deadlier version of it that had killed everybody in Penn Station. But they were highly efficient when fighting infections. Blackwatch had stopped a series of infections before Manhattan. I am sure they would have stopped that one too, just with more drastic measurements. But that is what I can not allow to happen anymore. I have decided to revive Blackwatch, but it is going to have only one purpose: Analyze, Fight and_ _ **fucking kill**_ _any germ that tries to crawl from its hole. Majorca has showed that the world needs somebody who can deal with epidemics and Blackwatch was the best."_ He nodded towards Fury and Steve. _"Of course, Blackwatch can not be allowed_ _to operate on its own. The government will have an eye on us, until we have proven that Blackwatch is not the group of fucking idiots anymore that tried to make a virus for a weapon."_ He turned and walked right off the podium, snapping at a group of reporters who tried to swarm him.

"Happy fellow, ain't he?" Dana commented dryly.

"Guess that had to be let out", Alex mumbled. "After all the shit he's been put through, I agree with him there." He fell silent, brows furrowed.

"What are you thinking about?" His sister asked.

"I've been asking myself..." the Blacklight Virus trailed off. "Dana. If I combine crocodiles and bats and birds...do you think I could make a dragon?"


End file.
